Sinkhole risk in Wabaunsee County, KS: Pockets of it

Pockets of it

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

On soluble rock: 68%
At or near the surface: 65%
Buried under cover: 4%

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 543 of Wabaunsee County's 794 square miles on soluble rock, 515 of them with the rock at or near the surface. With about 7,112 residents (9 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 338 map points about 1.5 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 Wabaunsee County

The nearest county rated sinkhole country is Dickinson County, KS, about 52 miles west. 4 of the 6 closest counties land in the same band, so this is a regional pattern rather than a local quirk.

Shawnee County, KS 25 mi east · 4% at surface
Pottawatomie County, KS 30 mi north · 6% at surface
Morris County, KS 30 mi southwest · 91% at surface
Geary County, KS 31 mi west · 75% at surface
Osage County, KS 34 mi southeast · 41% at surface
Lyon County, KS 35 mi south · 39% at surface

Which formation it is

The largest mapped soluble unit here is the Chase Group (shale), Early Permian - Gearyan in age, covering about 26% of the county. Next is the Council Grove Group at 23%.

Against the rest of Kansas

Wabaunsee County ranks 18 of 105 in Kansas for soluble rock at the surface, and sits above 91% of US counties on that measure.