Sinkhole risk in Jewell County, KS: Pockets of it

Pockets of it

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

On soluble rock: 32%
At or near the surface: 32%
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 293 of Jewell County's 910 square miles on soluble rock, 293 of them with the rock at or near the surface. With about 2,899 residents (3 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 391 map points about 1.5 miles apart, so a pocket smaller than that can be missed or overstated.

Worth reading for this county: the signs to look for and how an inspection works, and how these percentages are measured.

Counties around Jewell County

The nearest county rated sinkhole country is Franklin County, NE, about 48 miles northwest. 6 of the 6 closest counties land in the same band, so this is a regional pattern rather than a local quirk.

Mitchell County, KS 27 mi south · 38% at surface
Nuckolls County, NE 29 mi north · 52% at surface
Smith County, KS 30 mi west · 40% at surface
Republic County, KS 31 mi east · 19% at surface
Webster County, NE 31 mi northwest · 78% at surface
Cloud County, KS 37 mi southeast · 22% at surface

The rock underneath

The largest mapped soluble unit here is the Niobrara Chalk (shale), Late Cretaceous in age, covering about 20% of the county. Next is the Carlile Shale at 9%.

Against the rest of Kansas

Jewell County ranks 46 of 105 in Kansas for soluble rock at the surface, and sits above 80% of US counties on that measure.