Sinkhole risk in Lyon County, NV: Mostly deep or small

Mostly deep or small

Some soluble rock, mostly deeply buried or in a small share of the county.

On soluble rock: 9%
At or near the surface: 9%
Buried under cover: 0%

The next step for one property

Sinkholes are uncommon here; watch for new depressions after heavy rain or leaking pipes.

That works out to roughly 184 of Lyon County's 2,003 square miles on soluble rock, 184 of them with the rock at or near the surface. With about 63,718 residents (32 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 445 map points about 2.1 miles apart, so a pocket smaller than that can be missed or overstated.

Counties around Lyon County

The nearest county rated sinkhole country is Emery County, UT, about 455 miles east. 5 of the 6 closest counties land in the same band, so this is a regional pattern rather than a local quirk.

Douglas County, NV 24 mi west · 13% at surface
Carson City, NV 31 mi west · 2% at surface
Storey County, NV 34 mi northwest · 7% at surface
Alpine County, CA 43 mi southwest · 0% at surface
Mineral County, NV 55 mi southeast · 7% at surface
Churchill County, NV 61 mi northeast · 6% at surface

Which formation it is

The largest mapped soluble unit here is the Tuffaceous sedimentary rocks (sandstone), Late Eocene to Late Miocene in age, covering about 9% of the county.

Against the rest of Nevada

Lyon County ranks 9 of 17 in Nevada for soluble rock at the surface, and sits above 67% of US counties on that measure.