Sinkhole risk in Kane County, UT: Pockets of it

Pockets of it

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

On soluble rock: 15%
At or near the surface: 15%
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 603 of Kane County's 3,994 square miles on soluble rock, 603 of them with the rock at or near the surface. With about 8,525 residents (2 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 365 map points about 3.3 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 the signs to look for and how an inspection works.

Counties around Kane County

The nearest county rated sinkhole country is Emery County, UT, about 134 miles northeast. 3 of the 6 closest counties land in the same band; the ground changes quickly around here.

Garfield County, UT 43 mi northeast · 11% at surface
Piute County, UT 75 mi north · 0% at surface
Wayne County, UT 82 mi northeast · 22% at surface
Washington County, UT 92 mi west · 16% at surface
Iron County, UT 93 mi northwest · 2% at surface
Coconino County, AZ 100 mi south · 56% at surface

The rock underneath

The largest mapped soluble unit here is the Jurassic (1) sedimentary rocks in southeastern Utah (sandstone), Middle Jurassic in age, covering about 9% of the county. Next is the Jurassic (1) sedimentary rocks in southeastern Utah at 4%.

4% of the county sits on gypsum or salt, which dissolves in years rather than millennia. That share matters more than its size suggests.

Against the rest of Utah

Kane County ranks 8 of 29 in Utah for soluble rock at the surface, and sits above 72% of US counties on that measure.