Sinkhole risk in Edwards County, TX: Pockets of it

Pockets of it

Soluble rock at the surface or under thin cover in part of the county.

On soluble rock: 99%
At or near the surface: 99%
Buried under cover: 0%

The next step for one property

Check the parcel against your state survey sinkhole map, and ask for an inspection if cracks, depressions or sticking doors show up.

That works out to roughly 2,092 of Edwards County's 2,118 square miles on soluble rock, 2,092 of them with the rock at or near the surface. With about 1,383 residents (1 per square mile), there is effectively nowhere in the county off the soluble rock, town or country. The figures come from 334 map points about 2.5 miles apart, so a pocket smaller than that can be missed or overstated.

Two things to read before deciding: the signs to look for and how an inspection works, and how these percentages are measured.

Counties around Edwards County

The nearest county rated sinkhole country is Runnels County, TX, about 130 miles north. 6 of the 6 closest counties land in the same band, so this is a regional pattern rather than a local quirk.

Real County, TX 32 mi east · 96% at surface
Sutton County, TX 39 mi north · 97% at surface
Kinney County, TX 45 mi south · 54% at surface
Kimble County, TX 48 mi northeast · 97% at surface
Val Verde County, TX 51 mi west · 90% at surface
Uvalde County, TX 55 mi southeast · 54% at surface

What Edwards County is built on

The largest mapped soluble unit here is the Edwards Limestone (limestone), Early Cretaceous in age, covering about 62% of the county. Next is the Devils River Limestone at 23%.

Against the rest of Texas

Edwards County ranks 2 of 254 in Texas for soluble rock at the surface, and sits above 99% of US counties on that measure.