Sinkhole risk in Nye 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: 7%
At or near the surface: 7%
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 1,236 of Nye County's 18,182 square miles on soluble rock, 1,236 of them with the rock at or near the surface. With about 55,990 residents (3 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 488 map points about 6.1 miles apart, so a pocket smaller than that can be missed or overstated.

Counties around Nye County

The nearest county rated sinkhole country is Emery County, UT, about 319 miles east. 3 of the 6 closest counties land in the same band; the ground changes quickly around here.

Esmeralda County, NV 65 mi west · 15% at surface
Lincoln County, NV 90 mi east · 17% at surface
Inyo County, CA 110 mi southwest · 17% at surface
Mineral County, NV 113 mi west · 7% at surface
White Pine County, NV 131 mi northeast · 30% at surface
Mono County, CA 132 mi west · 2% 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 1% of the county. Next is the Limestone and dolomite, locally thick sequences of shale and siltstone at 1%.

Against the rest of Nevada

Nye County ranks 14 of 17 in Nevada for soluble rock at the surface, and sits above 65% of US counties on that measure.