SinkholeOdds

Sinkhole risk in Midland 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
16%
At or near the surface
16%
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 148 of Midland County's 900 square miles on soluble rock, 148 of them with the rock at or near the surface. With about 183,587 residents (204 per square mile), homes are spread across towns and farmland, and a mapped unit may or may not reach the developed parts. The figures come from 396 map points about 1.5 miles apart, so a pocket smaller than that can be missed or overstated.

Worth reading for this county: why gypsum and salt move faster than limestone, and the signs to look for and how an inspection works.

Counties around Midland County

The nearest county rated sinkhole country is Ector County, TX, about 32 miles west, close enough that the same rock may run under the county line. 4 of the 6 closest counties land in the same band, so this is a regional pattern rather than a local quirk.

What Midland County is built on

The largest mapped soluble unit here is the caliche deposits (evaporite), Pleistocene and Holocene in age, covering about 16% of the county. Next is the Edwards Limestone at under 1%.

16% 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 Texas

Midland County ranks 105 of 254 in Texas for soluble rock at the surface, and sits above 72% of US counties on that measure.