SinkholeOdds

Sinkhole risk in Hutchinson County, TX: 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
12%
At or near the surface
12%
Buried under cover
0%

What this means before you buy

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

That works out to roughly 107 of Hutchinson County's 887 square miles on soluble rock, 107 of them with the rock at or near the surface. With about 19,721 residents (22 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 396 map points about 1.5 miles apart, so a pocket smaller than that can be missed or overstated.

Two things to read before deciding: why gypsum and salt move faster than limestone, and how these percentages are measured.

Counties around Hutchinson County

The nearest county rated sinkhole country is Donley County, TX, about 68 miles southeast. 2 of the 6 closest counties land in the same band; the ground changes quickly around here.

The rock underneath

The largest mapped soluble unit here is the Quartermaster Formation and Whitehorse Group, undivided (mixed clastic/carbonate), Permian; Guadalupe Series in age, covering about 12% of the county.

12% of the county sits on gypsum or salt, which dissolves in years rather than millennia. That share matters more than its size suggests.

The county also lies over the Permian Basin, Anadarko Basin,Dalhart Basin, Palo Duro 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 Texas

Hutchinson County ranks 111 of 254 in Texas for soluble rock at the surface, and sits above 69% of US counties on that measure.