Sinkhole risk in Ochiltree County, TX: Not karst, but voids possible

Not karst, but voids possible

No soluble bedrock; some pseudokarst (piping or lava-tube ground).

On soluble rock: under 1%
At or near the surface: under 1%
Buried under cover: 0%

What this means before you buy

Not true karst, but soil piping or lava tubes can still open voids - mention it to an inspector.

That works out to roughly 3 of Ochiltree County's 918 square miles on soluble rock, 3 of them with the rock at or near the surface. With about 9,717 residents (11 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 396 map points about 1.5 miles apart, so a pocket smaller than that can be missed or overstated.

Counties around Ochiltree County

The nearest county rated sinkhole country is Roger Mills County, OK, about 72 miles southeast. 3 of the 6 closest counties land in the same band; the ground changes quickly around here.

Hansford County, TX 30 mi west · 0% at surface
Lipscomb County, TX 30 mi east · 0% at surface
Roberts County, TX 30 mi south · 0% at surface
Beaver County, OK 37 mi northeast · 5% at surface
Hutchinson County, TX 43 mi southwest · 12% at surface
Hemphill County, TX 44 mi southeast · 0% at surface

What Ochiltree County is built on

The largest mapped soluble unit here is the Cloud Chief Formation (evaporite), Permian; Guadalupe Series in age, covering about under 1% of the county.

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

Ochiltree County ranks 146 of 254 in Texas for soluble rock at the surface, and sits above 51% of US counties on that measure.