Sinkhole risk in Newton County, MO: Sinkhole country

Sinkhole country

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

On soluble rock: 99%
At or near the surface: 99%
Buried under cover: 0%

What to do about a house in Newton County

Get a sinkhole or geotechnical inspection before buying, building or adding weight to a foundation.

That works out to roughly 619 of Newton County's 625 square miles on soluble rock, 619 of them with the rock at or near the surface. With about 61,519 residents (98 per square mile), there is effectively nowhere in the county off the soluble rock, town or country. The figures come from 388 map points about 1.3 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 Newton County

The closest county with no soluble rock mapped is Crawford County, AR, about 92 miles south. 5 of the 6 closest counties land in the same band, so this is a regional pattern rather than a local quirk.

McDonald County, MO 19 mi south · 100% at surface
Jasper County, MO 21 mi north · 85% at surface
Ottawa County, OK 26 mi west · 63% at surface
Lawrence County, MO 31 mi northeast · 96% at surface
Barry County, MO 31 mi southeast · 99% at surface
Cherokee County, KS 33 mi northwest · 6% at surface

What Newton County is built on

The largest mapped soluble unit here is the Osagean Series (limestone), Early Mississippian-Osagean Series in age, covering about 51% of the county. Next is the Meramecian Series at 48%.

Against the rest of Missouri

Newton County ranks 23 of 115 in Missouri for soluble rock at the surface, and sits above 99% of US counties on that measure.