Sinkhole risk in Goshen County, WY: Mostly deep or small

Mostly deep or small

Some soluble rock, mostly deeply buried or in a small share of the county.

On soluble rock: 1%
At or near the surface: 1%
Buried under cover: 0%

What to do about a house in Goshen County

Sinkholes are uncommon here; watch for new depressions after heavy rain or leaking pipes.

That works out to roughly 29 of Goshen County's 2,226 square miles on soluble rock, 29 of them with the rock at or near the surface. With about 12,635 residents (6 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 390 map points about 2.4 miles apart, so a pocket smaller than that can be missed or overstated.

Worth reading for this county: why gypsum and salt move faster than limestone, and how these percentages are measured.

Counties around Goshen County

The nearest county rated sinkhole country is Dawes County, NE, about 76 miles northeast. 2 of the 6 closest counties land in the same band; the ground changes quickly around here.

Platte County, WY 31 mi west · 8% at surface
Scotts Bluff County, NE 37 mi southeast · 0% at surface
Sioux County, NE 41 mi northeast · 13% at surface
Banner County, NE 50 mi southeast · 0% at surface
Laramie County, WY 57 mi south · under 1% at surface
Box Butte County, NE 66 mi east · 0% at surface

Which formation it is

The largest mapped soluble unit here is the Hartville Formation (sandstone), Lower Pennsylvanian-Permian in age, covering about under 1% of the county. Next is the Guernsey Formation at under 1%.

The county also lies over the Northern Denver Basin, a deep salt or gypsum basin. Deep beds rarely cause surface collapse on their own, but wells and mining into them have.

Against the rest of Wyoming

Goshen County ranks 19 of 23 in Wyoming for soluble rock at the surface, and sits above 56% of US counties on that measure.