Sinkhole risk in Wilson County, KS: Sinkhole country

Sinkhole country

Soluble rock at or near the surface across much of the county.

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

The next step for one property

Get a sinkhole or geotechnical inspection before buying, building or adding weight to a foundation.

That works out to roughly 307 of Wilson County's 570 square miles on soluble rock, 307 of them with the rock at or near the surface. With about 8,398 residents (15 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 396 map points about 1.2 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 Wilson County

The closest county with no soluble rock mapped is Noble County, OK, about 116 miles southwest. 3 of the 6 closest counties land in the same band; the ground changes quickly around here.

Woodson County, KS 23 mi north · 40% at surface
Neosho County, KS 24 mi east · 78% at surface
Montgomery County, KS 25 mi south · 72% at surface
Elk County, KS 28 mi west · 53% at surface
Allen County, KS 33 mi northeast · 90% at surface
Greenwood County, KS 35 mi northwest · 55% at surface

Which formation it is

The largest mapped soluble unit here is the Lansing Group (shale), Middle Pennsylvanian- Missourian in age, covering about 26% of the county. Next is the Kansas City Group at 22%.

Against the rest of Kansas

Wilson County ranks 25 of 105 in Kansas for soluble rock at the surface, and sits above 88% of US counties on that measure.