Sinkhole risk in Cedar County, MO: 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%

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 254 of Cedar County's 474 square miles on soluble rock, 254 of them with the rock at or near the surface. With about 15,023 residents (32 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 360 map points about 1.1 miles apart, so a pocket smaller than that can be missed or overstated.

Counties around Cedar County

The closest county with no soluble rock mapped is Crawford County, AR, about 150 miles south. 3 of the 6 closest counties land in the same band; the ground changes quickly around here.

Dade County, MO 21 mi south · 73% at surface
St. Clair County, MO 22 mi north · 43% at surface
Polk County, MO 26 mi east · 97% at surface
Vernon County, MO 28 mi west · 9% at surface
Barton County, MO 31 mi southwest · 11% at surface
Hickory County, MO 32 mi northeast · 92% at surface

Which formation it is

The largest mapped soluble unit here is the Kinderhookian Series (limestone), Early Mississippian-Kinderhookian Series in age, covering about 21% of the county. Next is the Meramecian Series at 18%.

Against the rest of Missouri

Cedar County ranks 54 of 115 in Missouri for soluble rock at the surface, and sits above 88% of US counties on that measure.