SinkholeOdds

Sinkhole risk in Ness County, KS: Pockets of it

Pockets of it

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

On soluble rock
56%
At or near the surface
56%
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 600 of Ness County's 1,075 square miles on soluble rock, 600 of them with the rock at or near the surface. With about 2,617 residents (2 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 400 map points about 1.6 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 Ness County

The nearest county rated sinkhole country is Clark County, KS, about 86 miles south. 6 of the 6 closest counties land in the same band, so this is a regional pattern rather than a local quirk.

Which formation it is

The largest mapped soluble unit here is the Carlile Shale (shale), Late Cretaceous in age, covering about 35% of the county. Next is the Niobrara Chalk at 12%.

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 Kansas

Ness County ranks 21 of 105 in Kansas for soluble rock at the surface, and sits above 89% of US counties on that measure.