Sinkhole risk in O'Brien County, IA: No soluble rock mapped

No soluble rock mapped

No soluble bedrock mapped.

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

What this means before you buy

No soluble bedrock is mapped here, so natural sinkholes are unlikely. Collapses from broken pipes or old mines are a separate risk.

Across 573 square miles, under one square mile of O'Brien County maps onto soluble rock. With about 14,260 residents (25 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 391 map points about 1.2 miles apart, so a pocket smaller than that can be missed or overstated.

Worth reading for this county: how these percentages are measured, and the warning signs that apply anywhere.

Counties around O'Brien County

The nearest county rated sinkhole country is Knox County, NE, about 119 miles west. 5 of the 6 closest counties land in the same band, so this is a regional pattern rather than a local quirk.

Osceola County, IA 20 mi north · 0% at surface
Cherokee County, IA 24 mi south · 0% at surface
Clay County, IA 24 mi east · 0% at surface
Sioux County, IA 28 mi west · 0% at surface
Dickinson County, IA 30 mi northeast · 0% at surface
Buena Vista County, IA 34 mi southeast · 0% at surface

Against the rest of Iowa

O'Brien County ranks 73 of 99 in Iowa for soluble rock at the surface, and sits above 0% of US counties on that measure.