SinkholeOdds

Sinkhole risk in Sterling 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
55%
At or near the surface
55%
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 509 of Sterling County's 923 square miles on soluble rock, 509 of them with the rock at or near the surface. With about 1,387 residents (2 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 1.5 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 Sterling County

The nearest county rated sinkhole country is Coke County, TX, about 25 miles east, close enough that the same rock may run under the county line. 5 of the 6 closest counties land in the same band, so this is a regional pattern rather than a local quirk.

The rock underneath

The largest mapped soluble unit here is the Edwards Limestone (limestone), Early Cretaceous in age, covering about 53% of the county. Next is the Dockum Group, undivided at 2%.

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 Texas

Sterling County ranks 42 of 254 in Texas for soluble rock at the surface, and sits above 89% of US counties on that measure.