Sinkhole risk in Kay County, OK: Pockets of it
Pockets of it
Soluble rock at the surface or under thin cover in part of the county.
- On soluble rock
- 26%
- At or near the surface
- 26%
- 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 239 of Kay County's 920 square miles on soluble rock, 239 of them with the rock at or near the surface. With about 43,437 residents (47 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 339 map points about 1.6 miles apart, so a pocket smaller than that can be missed or overstated.
Read next: why gypsum and salt move faster than limestone, and the signs to look for and how an inspection works.
Counties around Kay County
The nearest county rated sinkhole country is Harper County, KS, about 57 miles northwest. 4 of the 6 closest counties land in the same band, so this is a regional pattern rather than a local quirk.
- Noble County, OK 30 mi south · 0% at surface
- Cowley County, KS 34 mi northeast · 74% at surface
- Sumner County, KS 35 mi northwest · 20% at surface
- Grant County, OK 36 mi west · 3% at surface
- Pawnee County, OK 43 mi southeast · 31% at surface
- Osage County, OK 43 mi east · 39% at surface
The rock underneath
The largest mapped soluble unit here is the Oscar Group (shale), Late Pennsylvanian in age, covering about 26% of the county.
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 Oklahoma
Kay County ranks 33 of 77 in Oklahoma for soluble rock at the surface, and sits above 78% of US counties on that measure.
- Delaware County 94%
- Adair County 79%
- Caddo County 79%
- Harmon County 77%
- Cherokee County 66%