Sinkhole risk in Dade County, MO: Sinkhole country

Sinkhole country

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

On soluble rock: 73%
At or near the surface: 73%
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 360 of Dade County's 490 square miles on soluble rock, 360 of them with the rock at or near the surface. With about 7,622 residents (16 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 399 map points about 1.1 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 Dade County

The closest county with no soluble rock mapped is Crawford County, AR, about 130 miles south. 5 of the 6 closest counties land in the same band, so this is a regional pattern rather than a local quirk.

Cedar County, MO 21 mi north · 54% at surface
Lawrence County, MO 23 mi south · 96% at surface
Barton County, MO 27 mi west · 11% at surface
Polk County, MO 28 mi northeast · 97% at surface
Greene County, MO 31 mi southeast · 97% at surface
Jasper County, MO 31 mi southwest · 85% at surface

Which formation it is

The largest mapped soluble unit here is the Meramecian Series (limestone), Late Mississippian-Meramecian Series in age, covering about 39% of the county. Next is the Kinderhookian Series at 32%.

Against the rest of Missouri

Dade County ranks 48 of 115 in Missouri for soluble rock at the surface, and sits above 93% of US counties on that measure.