Sinkhole risk in Labette County, KS: Sinkhole country

Sinkhole country

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

On soluble rock: 74%
At or near the surface: 74%
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 478 of Labette County's 645 square miles on soluble rock, 478 of them with the rock at or near the surface. With about 19,692 residents (31 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 415 map points about 1.2 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 Labette County

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

Montgomery County, KS 24 mi west · 72% at surface
Cherokee County, KS 25 mi east · 6% at surface
Neosho County, KS 26 mi north · 78% at surface
Craig County, OK 30 mi south · 31% at surface
Crawford County, KS 33 mi northeast · 56% at surface
Nowata County, OK 33 mi southwest · 34% at surface

Which formation it is

The largest mapped soluble unit here is the Marmaton Group (shale), Early Pennsylvanian- Desmoinesian in age, covering about 54% of the county. Next is the Kansas City Group at 20%.

Against the rest of Kansas

Labette County ranks 11 of 105 in Kansas for soluble rock at the surface, and sits above 93% of US counties on that measure.