Sinkhole risk in Russell 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: 47%
At or near the surface: 47%
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 418 of Russell County's 886 square miles on soluble rock, 418 of them with the rock at or near the surface. With about 6,620 residents (7 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 413 map points about 1.5 miles apart, so a pocket smaller than that can be missed or overstated.

Two things to read before deciding: why gypsum and salt move faster than limestone, and the signs to look for and how an inspection works.

Counties around Russell County

The nearest county rated sinkhole country is Dickinson County, KS, about 87 miles east. 6 of the 6 closest counties land in the same band, so this is a regional pattern rather than a local quirk.

Ellis County, KS 29 mi west · 39% at surface
Osborne County, KS 30 mi north · 39% at surface
Barton County, KS 30 mi south · 37% at surface
Lincoln County, KS 31 mi east · 33% at surface
Ellsworth County, KS 34 mi southeast · 19% at surface
Rush County, KS 40 mi southwest · 55% at surface

What Russell County is built on

The largest mapped soluble unit here is the Greenhorn Limestone and Graneros Shale (limestone), Late Cretaceous in age, covering about 33% of the county. Next is the Carlile Shale at 14%.

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

Russell County ranks 29 of 105 in Kansas for soluble rock at the surface, and sits above 86% of US counties on that measure.