Sinkhole risk in Stone County, MO: Sinkhole country

Sinkhole country

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

On soluble rock: 100%
At or near the surface: 100%
Buried under cover: 0%

What to do about a house in Stone County

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

That works out to roughly 464 of Stone County's 464 square miles on soluble rock, 464 of them with the rock at or near the surface. With about 32,630 residents (70 per square mile), there is effectively nowhere in the county off the soluble rock, town or country. The figures come from 351 map points about 1.1 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 closest county with no soluble rock mapped is Johnson County, AR, about 81 miles south. 6 of the 6 closest counties land in the same band, so this is a regional pattern rather than a local quirk.

Barry County, MO 21 mi west · 99% at surface
Christian County, MO 22 mi northeast · 98% at surface
Taney County, MO 24 mi east · 100% at surface
Carroll County, AR 29 mi south · 81% at surface
Lawrence County, MO 32 mi northwest · 96% at surface
Greene County, MO 36 mi north · 97% at surface

What Stone County is built on

The largest mapped soluble unit here is the Kinderhookian Series (limestone), Early Mississippian-Kinderhookian Series in age, covering about 56% of the county. Next is the Smithville Dolomite, Powell Dolomite, Cotter Dolomite, Jefferson City Dolomite at 37%.

Against the rest of Missouri

Stone County ranks 16 of 115 in Missouri for soluble rock at the surface, and sits above 99% of US counties on that measure.