Sinkhole risk in Neosho County, KS: Sinkhole country

Sinkhole country

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

On soluble rock: 78%
At or near the surface: 78%
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 445 of Neosho County's 571 square miles on soluble rock, 445 of them with the rock at or near the surface. With about 15,552 residents (27 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 396 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 Neosho County

The closest county with no soluble rock mapped is Noble County, OK, about 134 miles southwest. 5 of the 6 closest counties land in the same band, so this is a regional pattern rather than a local quirk.

Allen County, KS 22 mi north · 90% at surface
Wilson County, KS 24 mi west · 54% at surface
Crawford County, KS 26 mi east · 56% at surface
Labette County, KS 26 mi south · 74% at surface
Bourbon County, KS 32 mi northeast · 68% at surface
Woodson County, KS 33 mi northwest · 40% at surface

The rock underneath

The largest mapped soluble unit here is the Kansas City Group (limestone), Middle Pennsylvanian- Missourian in age, covering about 67% of the county. Next is the Marmaton Group at 10%.

Against the rest of Kansas

Neosho County ranks 8 of 105 in Kansas for soluble rock at the surface, and sits above 94% of US counties on that measure.