Geospatial Analysis of Factors Related to Karst Development in Southwest Missouri

Karst development in southwest Missouri is concentrated in Greene and Christian counties, which include a range of rural and metropolitan areas (e.g Springfield, Missouri). Several factors are believed to contribute to sinkhole formation in the area, including: soluble limestone bedrock (Burlington-Keokuk Limestone), numerous faults and fractures, a shale unit of low permeability below the limestone, and a relatively thin residual soil overlying the fractured limestone. This study is a preliminary geospatial analysis which explores the relationship of these multiple variables to the concentration of both known and postulated karst features.

Contoured well log data were used to calculate a digital surface representing the top of the Northview Shale, which underlies the Burlington-Keokuk Limestone. Relative topographic highs on the Northview Shale surface lie below several sinkhole clusters within the study area. Lineaments in the Northview Shale surface occur in close proximity to both mapped and undocumented geologic structures such as faults, fault intersections and fold axes. Future geospatial studies incorporating sinkhole geometries, groundwater elevations, and large aperture groundwater conduit locations may build upon the work presented here and provide a better spatial characterization of factors locally controlling the development of the karst features.