Sinkhole risk in Uvalde 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 843 of Uvalde County's 1,552 square miles on soluble rock, 843 of them with the rock at or near the surface. With about 25,138 residents (16 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 405 map points about 2.0 miles apart, so a pocket smaller than that can be missed or overstated.

Worth reading for this county: the signs to look for and how an inspection works, and how these percentages are measured.

Counties around Uvalde County

The nearest county rated sinkhole country is Runnels County, TX, about 173 miles north. 4 of the 6 closest counties land in the same band, so this is a regional pattern rather than a local quirk.

Real County, TX 33 mi north · 96% at surface
Zavala County, TX 34 mi south · 0% at surface
Kinney County, TX 39 mi west · 54% at surface
Medina County, TX 40 mi east · 37% at surface
Bandera County, TX 42 mi northeast · 96% at surface
Frio County, TX 52 mi southeast · 0% at surface

Which formation it is

The largest mapped soluble unit here is the Devils River Limestone (limestone), Early Cretaceous; Comanchean Series in age, covering about 18% of the county. Next is the Glen Rose Limestone at 9%.

Against the rest of Texas

Uvalde County ranks 44 of 254 in Texas for soluble rock at the surface, and sits above 88% of US counties on that measure.