Sinkhole risk in Cooper County, MO: Sinkhole country

Sinkhole country

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

On soluble rock: 91%
At or near the surface: 83%
Buried under cover: 8%

What to do about a house in Cooper County

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

That works out to roughly 513 of Cooper County's 565 square miles on soluble rock, 469 of them with the rock at or near the surface. With about 17,122 residents (30 per square mile), there is effectively nowhere in the county off the soluble rock, town or country. The figures come from 294 map points about 1.4 miles apart, so a pocket smaller than that can be missed or overstated.

Counties around Cooper County

The closest county with no soluble rock mapped is Schuyler County, MO, about 113 miles north. 3 of the 6 closest counties land in the same band; the ground changes quickly around here.

Moniteau County, MO 19 mi southeast · 95% at surface
Howard County, MO 21 mi north · 5% at surface
Pettis County, MO 27 mi west · 71% at surface
Boone County, MO 29 mi east · 27% at surface
Saline County, MO 29 mi northwest · 10% at surface
Morgan County, MO 30 mi south · 100% at surface

The rock underneath

The largest mapped soluble unit here is the Osagean Series (limestone), Early Mississippian-Osagean Series in age, covering about 54% of the county. Next is the Kinderhookian Series at 19%.

Against the rest of Missouri

Cooper County ranks 44 of 115 in Missouri for soluble rock at the surface, and sits above 95% of US counties on that measure.