Sinkhole risk in Miami County, KS: Sinkhole country

Sinkhole country

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

On soluble rock: 87%
At or near the surface: 87%
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 500 of Miami County's 576 square miles on soluble rock, 500 of them with the rock at or near the surface. With about 35,737 residents (62 per square mile), homes are spread across towns and farmland, and a mapped unit may or may not reach the developed parts. The figures come from 403 map points about 1.2 miles apart, so a pocket smaller than that can be missed or overstated.

Two things to read before deciding: the signs to look for and how an inspection works, and how these percentages are measured.

Counties around Miami County

The closest county with no soluble rock mapped is Nemaha County, NE, about 137 miles northwest. 3 of the 6 closest counties land in the same band; the ground changes quickly around here.

Johnson County, KS 22 mi north · 67% at surface
Franklin County, KS 24 mi west · 33% at surface
Linn County, KS 24 mi south · 69% at surface
Cass County, MO 26 mi east · 72% at surface
Douglas County, KS 34 mi northwest · 23% at surface
Bates County, MO 34 mi southeast · 45% at surface

What Miami County is built on

The largest mapped soluble unit here is the Kansas City Group (limestone), Middle Pennsylvanian- Missourian in age, covering about 73% of the county. Next is the Lansing Group at 14%.

Against the rest of Kansas

Miami County ranks 4 of 105 in Kansas for soluble rock at the surface, and sits above 96% of US counties on that measure.