Sinkhole risk in Baxter County, AR: Sinkhole country

Sinkhole country

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

On soluble rock: 96%
At or near the surface: 96%
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 531 of Baxter County's 554 square miles on soluble rock, 531 of them with the rock at or near the surface. With about 43,007 residents (78 per square mile), there is effectively nowhere in the county off the soluble rock, town or country. The figures come from 262 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 Baxter County

The closest county with no soluble rock mapped is Van Buren County, AR, about 49 miles south. 4 of the 6 closest counties land in the same band, so this is a regional pattern rather than a local quirk.

Marion County, AR 19 mi west · 94% at surface
Ozark County, MO 26 mi north · 100% at surface
Izard County, AR 27 mi southeast · 100% at surface
Fulton County, AR 29 mi east · 100% at surface
Stone County, AR 31 mi south · 39% at surface
Searcy County, AR 33 mi southwest · 46% at surface

The rock underneath

The largest mapped soluble unit here is the Cotter and Jefferson City Dolomites (dolostone (dolomite)), Early Ordovician in age, covering about 57% of the county. Next is the St. Peter Sanstone and Everton Formation (Middle Ordovician) at 15%.

Against the rest of Arkansas

Baxter County ranks 4 of 75 in Arkansas for soluble rock at the surface, and sits above 98% of US counties on that measure.