Sinkhole risk in Kimble County, TX: Pockets of it

Pockets of it

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

On soluble rock: 97%
At or near the surface: 97%
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 1,218 of Kimble County's 1,251 square miles on soluble rock, 1,218 of them with the rock at or near the surface. With about 4,401 residents (4 per square mile), there is effectively nowhere in the county off the soluble rock, town or country. The figures come from 350 map points about 1.9 miles apart, so a pocket smaller than that can be missed or overstated.

Two things to read before deciding: the signs to look for and how an inspection works, and how these percentages are measured.

Counties around Kimble County

The nearest county rated sinkhole country is Runnels County, TX, about 95 miles north. 6 of the 6 closest counties land in the same band, so this is a regional pattern rather than a local quirk.

Menard County, TX 29 mi north · 93% at surface
Mason County, TX 34 mi northeast · 46% at surface
Kerr County, TX 37 mi southeast · 99% at surface
Real County, TX 45 mi south · 96% at surface
Sutton County, TX 46 mi west · 97% at surface
Edwards County, TX 48 mi southwest · 99% at surface

What Kimble County is built on

The largest mapped soluble unit here is the Edwards Limestone (limestone), Early Cretaceous in age, covering about 79% of the county. Next is the Hensell Sand at 16%.

Against the rest of Texas

Kimble County ranks 4 of 254 in Texas for soluble rock at the surface, and sits above 99% of US counties on that measure.