Sinkhole risk in Somervell 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: 35%
At or near the surface: 35%
Buried under cover: 0%

What to do about a house in Somervell County

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 66 of Somervell County's 186 square miles on soluble rock, 66 of them with the rock at or near the surface. With about 10,098 residents (54 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 254 map points about 0.9 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 Somervell County

The nearest county rated sinkhole country is Taylor County, TX, about 124 miles west. 6 of the 6 closest counties land in the same band, so this is a regional pattern rather than a local quirk.

Hood County, TX 15 mi north · 42% at surface
Bosque County, TX 23 mi south · 26% at surface
Johnson County, TX 26 mi northeast · 18% at surface
Erath County, TX 26 mi west · 27% at surface
Parker County, TX 39 mi north · 21% at surface
Hamilton County, TX 41 mi southwest · 34% at surface

What Somervell County is built on

The largest mapped soluble unit here is the Glen Rose Limestone (limestone), Early Cretaceous in age, covering about 35% of the county.

Against the rest of Texas

Somervell County ranks 76 of 254 in Texas for soluble rock at the surface, and sits above 82% of US counties on that measure.