Sinkhole risk in Scott 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: 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 49 of Scott County's 718 square miles on soluble rock, 49 of them with the rock at or near the surface. With about 4,914 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 400 map points about 1.3 miles apart, so a pocket smaller than that can be missed or overstated.

Counties around Scott County

The nearest county rated sinkhole country is Clark County, KS, about 105 miles southeast. 4 of the 6 closest counties land in the same band, so this is a regional pattern rather than a local quirk.

Lane County, KS 24 mi east · 18% at surface
Wichita County, KS 24 mi west · 13% at surface
Finney County, KS 31 mi south · 5% at surface
Logan County, KS 33 mi northwest · 11% at surface
Gove County, KS 38 mi northeast · 23% at surface
Kearny County, KS 40 mi southwest · 2% at surface

What Scott County is built on

The largest mapped soluble unit here is the Ogallala Formation (arkose), Miocene in age, covering about 6% of the county. Next is the Niobrara Chalk at 1%.

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

Scott County ranks 76 of 105 in Kansas for soluble rock at the surface, and sits above 65% of US counties on that measure.