Posted on Jul 4, 2023
Worlds below Missouri: Exploring the thousands of caves and sinkholes in the Show-Me State
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Missouri is freckled with geologic features like caves and sinkholes. This is because the bedrock — composed of soluble rock like limestone and dolomite — is conducive to karst formation. Missouri has about 7,700 documented caves, the second most in the U.S. behind Tennessee.
In the heart of Missouri lies a sinkhole.
It consumes around 700 acres of land in Boone County — stretching about a mile wide and reaching about 100 feet in depth. It’s the state’s largest sinkhole, but it’s just one of thousands that puncture holes throughout the Show-Me State.
About 200 miles away, Missouri’s longest cave swirls for miles in Perry County. The cave, called Crevice Cave, is currently surveyed to stretch 31.2 miles, according to the Missouri Speleological Survey.
In the heart of Missouri lies a sinkhole.
It consumes around 700 acres of land in Boone County — stretching about a mile wide and reaching about 100 feet in depth. It’s the state’s largest sinkhole, but it’s just one of thousands that puncture holes throughout the Show-Me State.
About 200 miles away, Missouri’s longest cave swirls for miles in Perry County. The cave, called Crevice Cave, is currently surveyed to stretch 31.2 miles, according to the Missouri Speleological Survey.
Worlds below Missouri: Exploring the thousands of caves and sinkholes in the Show-Me State
Posted from kcur.org
Posted 11 mo ago
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
..."“In my experience, we get a lot of phone calls from people (in) about March, April — kind of after you’ve had typically a longer dry winter (and) we’ve gone through lots of freeze-thaw cycles…” Bone said.
Data from the Kansas City, Missouri, Open Data Portal records reports made about sinkholes to 311 throughout the city.
Over the last five years, these sinkhole reports to 311 tended to increase during the spring months. Bone said this is likely due to thawing and more rain water.
“A lot of people don’t get out much during the wintertime, so when it gets nice out, people start walking around their yards more and then, you know, something might have been there a couple months too,” Bone said. “But definitely having the freeze-thaw cycles and the spring rains will definitely exacerbate those conditions.”
However, Bone said the Kansas City, Missouri, reports are not typically the result of naturally occurring sinkholes, but infrastructure issues. These kinds of instances are referred to as a collapse or a subsidence, rather than a sinkhole, Bone said.
“The Kansas City area the bedrock type is not typically conducive for sinkhole formation,” Bone said."
..."“In my experience, we get a lot of phone calls from people (in) about March, April — kind of after you’ve had typically a longer dry winter (and) we’ve gone through lots of freeze-thaw cycles…” Bone said.
Data from the Kansas City, Missouri, Open Data Portal records reports made about sinkholes to 311 throughout the city.
Over the last five years, these sinkhole reports to 311 tended to increase during the spring months. Bone said this is likely due to thawing and more rain water.
“A lot of people don’t get out much during the wintertime, so when it gets nice out, people start walking around their yards more and then, you know, something might have been there a couple months too,” Bone said. “But definitely having the freeze-thaw cycles and the spring rains will definitely exacerbate those conditions.”
However, Bone said the Kansas City, Missouri, reports are not typically the result of naturally occurring sinkholes, but infrastructure issues. These kinds of instances are referred to as a collapse or a subsidence, rather than a sinkhole, Bone said.
“The Kansas City area the bedrock type is not typically conducive for sinkhole formation,” Bone said."
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