Sinkhole risk in Power County, ID: Pockets of it

Pockets of it

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

On soluble rock: 18%
At or near the surface: 18%
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 258 of Power County's 1,404 square miles on soluble rock, 258 of them with the rock at or near the surface. With about 8,381 residents (6 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 244 map points about 2.4 miles apart, so a pocket smaller than that can be missed or overstated.

Two things to read before deciding: the signs to look for and how an inspection works, and how these percentages are measured.

Counties around Power County

The nearest county rated sinkhole country is Emery County, UT, about 278 miles southeast. 3 of the 6 closest counties land in the same band; the ground changes quickly around here.

Bannock County, ID 31 mi east · 29% at surface
Oneida County, ID 39 mi southeast · 44% at surface
Minidoka County, ID 42 mi west · 0% at surface
Bingham County, ID 43 mi northeast · 8% at surface
Cassia County, ID 49 mi southwest · 7% at surface
Franklin County, ID 63 mi southeast · 37% at surface

Which formation it is

The largest mapped soluble unit here is the Limestone, sandstone, dolostone, and chert; Permian to Pennsylvanian marine epicontinental-basin deposits; southeastern Idaho; (limestone), Early Permian to Early Pennsylvanian in age, covering about 9% of the county. Next is the Limestone, sandstone, shale, and chert; Pennsylvanian marine epicontinental-basin deposits; southeastern Idaho at 4%.

Against the rest of Idaho

Power County ranks 7 of 44 in Idaho for soluble rock at the surface, and sits above 74% of US counties on that measure.