Sinkhole risk in Christian County, MO: Sinkhole country

Sinkhole country

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

On soluble rock: 98%
At or near the surface: 98%
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 549 of Christian County's 563 square miles on soluble rock, 549 of them with the rock at or near the surface. With about 96,045 residents (171 per square mile), there is effectively nowhere in the county off the soluble rock, town or country. The figures come from 286 map points about 1.4 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 Christian County

The closest county with no soluble rock mapped is Johnson County, AR, about 98 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 22 mi southwest · 100% at surface
Greene County, MO 22 mi northwest · 97% at surface
Taney County, MO 24 mi south · 100% at surface
Webster County, MO 28 mi northeast · 100% at surface
Lawrence County, MO 37 mi west · 96% at surface
Douglas County, MO 37 mi east · 100% 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 69% of the county. Next is the Smithville Dolomite, Powell Dolomite, Cotter Dolomite, Jefferson City Dolomite at 25%.

Against the rest of Missouri

Christian County ranks 27 of 115 in Missouri for soluble rock at the surface, and sits above 99% of US counties on that measure.