SinkholeOdds

Sinkhole risk in Mercer County, MO: Mostly deep or small

Mostly deep or small

Some soluble rock, mostly deeply buried or in a small share of the county.

On soluble rock
26%
At or near the surface
0%
Buried under cover
26%

The next step for one property

Sinkholes are uncommon here; watch for new depressions after heavy rain or leaking pipes.

That works out to roughly 120 of Mercer County's 454 square miles on soluble rock. With about 3,452 residents (8 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 390 map points about 1.1 miles apart, so a pocket smaller than that can be missed or overstated.

Read next: why gypsum and salt move faster than limestone, and why the 26% under cover still counts.

Counties around Mercer County

The nearest county rated sinkhole country is Jackson County, MO, about 106 miles southwest. 4 of the 6 closest counties land in the same band, so this is a regional pattern rather than a local quirk.

Which formation it is

The largest mapped soluble unit here is the Kansas City Group (limestone), Late Pennsylvanian-Upper Series-Missourian Stage in age, covering about 26% of the county.

The county also lies over the Forest City Basin, a deep salt or gypsum basin. Deep beds rarely cause surface collapse on their own, but wells and mining into them have.

Against the rest of Missouri

Mercer County ranks 101 of 115 in Missouri for soluble rock at the surface, and sits above 0% of US counties on that measure.