Sinkhole risk in Shackelford County, TX: Pockets of it

Pockets of it

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

On soluble rock: 54%
At or near the surface: 54%
Buried under cover: 0%

What this means before you buy

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 495 of Shackelford County's 914 square miles on soluble rock, 495 of them with the rock at or near the surface. With about 3,169 residents (3 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 418 map points about 1.5 miles apart, so a pocket smaller than that can be missed or overstated.

Worth reading for this county: why gypsum and salt move faster than limestone, and the signs to look for and how an inspection works.

Counties around Shackelford County

The nearest county rated sinkhole country is Jones County, TX, about 31 miles west, close enough that the same rock may run under the county line. 3 of the 6 closest counties land in the same band; the ground changes quickly around here.

Stephens County, TX 30 mi east · 13% at surface
Throckmorton County, TX 31 mi north · 37% at surface
Jones County, TX 31 mi west · 55% at surface
Callahan County, TX 31 mi south · 38% at surface
Haskell County, TX 37 mi northwest · 50% at surface
Eastland County, TX 42 mi southeast · 19% at surface

What Shackelford County is built on

The largest mapped soluble unit here is the Lueders Formation (shale), Permian; Leonard Series in age, covering about 20% of the county. Next is the Talpa Formation at 9%.

3% of the county sits on gypsum or salt, which dissolves in years rather than millennia. That share matters more than its size suggests.

Against the rest of Texas

Shackelford County ranks 45 of 254 in Texas for soluble rock at the surface, and sits above 88% of US counties on that measure.