Sinkhole risk in Eureka County, NV: Pockets of it

Pockets of it

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

On soluble rock: 16%
At or near the surface: 16%
Buried under cover: 0%

What this means before you buy

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 668 of Eureka County's 4,176 square miles on soluble rock, 668 of them with the rock at or near the surface. With about 1,877 residents (0 per square mile), much of the land is open, and the mapped rock may sit far from where people actually live. The figures come from 313 map points about 3.7 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 Eureka County

The nearest county rated sinkhole country is Emery County, UT, about 303 miles east. 3 of the 6 closest counties land in the same band; the ground changes quickly around here.

Lander County, NV 41 mi west · 8% at surface
White Pine County, NV 83 mi southeast · 30% at surface
Elko County, NV 94 mi northeast · 32% at surface
Churchill County, NV 110 mi west · 6% at surface
Pershing County, NV 117 mi west · 16% at surface
Humboldt County, NV 139 mi northwest · 8% at surface

Which formation it is

The largest mapped soluble unit here is the Tuffaceous sedimentary rocks (sandstone), Late Eocene to Late Miocene in age, covering about 5% of the county. Next is the Dolomite, limestone, and minor amounts of sandstone and quartzite at 4%.

Against the rest of Nevada

Eureka County ranks 6 of 17 in Nevada for soluble rock at the surface, and sits above 72% of US counties on that measure.