SinkholeOdds

Sinkhole risk in Nodaway 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
51%
At or near the surface
0%
Buried under cover
51%

What this means before you buy

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

That works out to roughly 447 of Nodaway County's 877 square miles on soluble rock. With about 20,503 residents (23 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 349 map points about 1.6 miles apart, so a pocket smaller than that can be missed or overstated.

Worth reading for this county: why gypsum and salt move faster than limestone, and why the 51% under cover still counts.

Counties around Nodaway County

The nearest county rated sinkhole country is Jackson County, MO, about 98 miles south. 5 of the 6 closest counties land in the same band, so this is a regional pattern rather than a local quirk.

What Nodaway County is built on

The largest mapped soluble unit here is the Shawnee Group (limestone), Late Pennsylvanian-Upper Series-Virgilian Stage in age, covering about 44% of the county. Next is the Lansing Group at 5%.

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

Nodaway County ranks 104 of 115 in Missouri for soluble rock at the surface, and sits above 0% of US counties on that measure.