Sinkhole risk in Menard 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: 93%
At or near the surface: 93%
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 842 of Menard County's 902 square miles on soluble rock, 842 of them with the rock at or near the surface. With about 1,911 residents (2 per square mile), there is effectively nowhere in the county off the soluble rock, town or country. The figures come from 360 map points about 1.6 miles apart, so a pocket smaller than that can be missed or overstated.

Worth reading for this county: the signs to look for and how an inspection works, and how these percentages are measured.

Counties around Menard County

The nearest county rated sinkhole country is Runnels County, TX, about 67 miles north. 6 of the 6 closest counties land in the same band, so this is a regional pattern rather than a local quirk.

Kimble County, TX 29 mi south · 97% at surface
Concho County, TX 30 mi north · 67% at surface
McCulloch County, TX 37 mi northeast · 48% at surface
Mason County, TX 39 mi east · 46% at surface
Schleicher County, TX 40 mi west · 95% at surface
Sutton County, TX 46 mi southwest · 97% at surface

The rock underneath

The largest mapped soluble unit here is the Edwards Limestone (limestone), Early Cretaceous in age, covering about 84% of the county. Next is the Hensell Sand at 9%.

Against the rest of Texas

Menard County ranks 10 of 254 in Texas for soluble rock at the surface, and sits above 98% of US counties on that measure.