Sinkhole risk in Lincoln County, NM: Pockets of it

Pockets of it

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

On soluble rock: 65%
At or near the surface: 65%
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 3,121 of Lincoln County's 4,831 square miles on soluble rock, 3,121 of them with the rock at or near the surface. With about 20,025 residents (4 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 263 map points about 4.3 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 Lincoln County

The nearest county rated sinkhole country is Eddy County, NM, about 111 miles southeast. 5 of the 6 closest counties land in the same band, so this is a regional pattern rather than a local quirk.

Torrance County, NM 62 mi northwest · 28% at surface
Chaves County, NM 62 mi southeast · 45% at surface
De Baca County, NM 75 mi northeast · 23% at surface
Otero County, NM 80 mi south · 59% at surface
Guadalupe County, NM 87 mi northeast · 14% at surface
Socorro County, NM 87 mi west · 23% at surface

The rock underneath

The largest mapped soluble unit here is the San Andres Formation (carbonate), Permian in age, covering about 55% of the county. Next is the Chinle Group at 3%.

7% 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 New Mexico

Lincoln County ranks 1 of 33 in New Mexico for soluble rock at the surface, and sits above 91% of US counties on that measure.