Sinkhole risk in Barry County, MO: Sinkhole country

Sinkhole country

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

On soluble rock: 99%
At or near the surface: 99%
Buried under cover: 0%

What this means before you buy

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

That works out to roughly 770 of Barry County's 778 square miles on soluble rock, 770 of them with the rock at or near the surface. With about 35,618 residents (46 per square mile), there is effectively nowhere in the county off the soluble rock, town or country. The figures come from 375 map points about 1.4 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 Barry County

The closest county with no soluble rock mapped is Crawford County, AR, about 80 miles south. 6 of the 6 closest counties land in the same band, so this is a regional pattern rather than a local quirk.

Stone County, MO 21 mi east · 100% at surface
Lawrence County, MO 28 mi north · 96% at surface
McDonald County, MO 29 mi west · 100% at surface
Carroll County, AR 30 mi southeast · 81% at surface
Newton County, MO 31 mi northwest · 99% at surface
Benton County, AR 34 mi southwest · 93% at surface

The rock underneath

The largest mapped soluble unit here is the Osagean Series (limestone), Early Mississippian-Osagean Series in age, covering about 63% of the county. Next is the Smithville Dolomite, Powell Dolomite, Cotter Dolomite, Jefferson City Dolomite at 22%.

Against the rest of Missouri

Barry County ranks 24 of 115 in Missouri for soluble rock at the surface, and sits above 99% of US counties on that measure.