SinkholeOdds

Sinkhole risk in Reno County, KS: 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
9%
At or near the surface
9%
Buried under cover
0%

What to do about a house in Reno County

Sinkholes are uncommon here; watch for new depressions after heavy rain or leaking pipes.

That works out to roughly 115 of Reno County's 1,255 square miles on soluble rock, 115 of them with the rock at or near the surface. With about 61,417 residents (49 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 390 map points about 1.8 miles apart, so a pocket smaller than that can be missed or overstated.

Read next: why gypsum and salt move faster than limestone, and how these percentages are measured.

Counties around Reno County

The nearest county rated sinkhole country is Harper County, KS, about 53 miles south. 1 of the 6 closest counties land in the same band; the ground changes quickly around here.

Which formation it is

The largest mapped soluble unit here is the Sumner Group (shale), Late Permian - Cimarronian in age, covering about 7% of the county. Next is the Nippewalla Group at 2%.

9% 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 Kansas

Reno County ranks 72 of 105 in Kansas for soluble rock at the surface, and sits above 67% of US counties on that measure.