SinkholeOdds

Sinkhole risk in Kingfisher 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
15%
At or near the surface
15%
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 138 of Kingfisher County's 898 square miles on soluble rock, 138 of them with the rock at or near the surface. With about 15,820 residents (18 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.

Read next: why gypsum and salt move faster than limestone, and the signs to look for and how an inspection works.

Counties around Kingfisher County

The nearest county rated sinkhole country is Blaine County, OK, about 28 miles west, close enough that the same rock may run under the county line. None of the 6 closest counties land in the same band, so Kingfisher County stands out from its surroundings.

The rock underneath

The largest mapped soluble unit here is the Salt Plains Formation (shale), Early Permian in age, covering about 11% of the county. Next is the Flowerpot Shale at 4%.

15% 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 Oklahoma

Kingfisher County ranks 37 of 77 in Oklahoma for soluble rock at the surface, and sits above 72% of US counties on that measure.