Sinkhole risk in Stone County, AR: Pockets of it

Pockets of it

Soluble rock at the surface or under thin cover in part of the county.

On soluble rock: 39%
At or near the surface: 39%
Buried under cover: 0%

The next step for one property

Check the parcel against your state survey sinkhole map, and ask for an inspection if cracks, depressions or sticking doors show up.

That works out to roughly 234 of Stone County's 606 square miles on soluble rock, 234 of them with the rock at or near the surface. With about 12,785 residents (21 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 259 map points about 1.5 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 Stone County

The nearest county rated sinkhole country is Izard County, AR, about 21 miles northeast, close enough that the same rock may run under the county line. 2 of the 6 closest counties land in the same band; the ground changes quickly around here.

Cleburne County, AR 20 mi south · 0% at surface
Izard County, AR 21 mi northeast · 100% at surface
Van Buren County, AR 28 mi southwest · 0% at surface
Baxter County, AR 31 mi north · 96% at surface
Searcy County, AR 31 mi west · 46% at surface
Independence County, AR 34 mi east · 41% at surface

What Stone County is built on

The largest mapped soluble unit here is the Boone Formation (limestone), Early Mississippian- Meramecian to Osagean in age, covering about 23% of the county. Next is the St. Peter Sanstone and Everton Formation (Middle Ordovician) at 9%.

Against the rest of Arkansas

Stone County ranks 13 of 75 in Arkansas for soluble rock at the surface, and sits above 83% of US counties on that measure.