Water Resources Center
Karst, Springs and Caves in Missouri
Karst in Missouri
Karst is a landscape characterized by the presence of caves, springs, sinkholes and losing streams. Because of this karst topography, Missouri is home to not only large rivers and beautiful streams, we have plentiful underground water resources as well. Fifty-nine percent of the state is underlain by thick, carbonate rock units that host a wide variety of karst features. According to the Missouri Speleological Survey, there are now more than 6,000 known caves in Missouri. A spring database maintained by the Missouri Department of Natural Resources currently lists more than 3,000 springs in the state. Sinkholes have been inventoried in only a few counties: Greene County reports more than 2,500, and Perry County reports more than 7,000. Losing streams have not been fully inventoried statewide, but there are hundreds of miles of losing streams recorded, and probably twice that much that are unrecorded.
Definitions:
karst – A landscape characterized by the presence of caves, springs, sinkholes and losing streams, created as groundwater dissolves soluble rock such as limestone or dolomite.
cave – A natural cavity beneath the earth’s surface. Caves are formed when slightly acidic water combines with limestone or dolomitic rock, and dissolves the rock, creating a cavity.
spring – A natural discharge of water from a rock or soil to the surface.
sinkhole – A rounded depression in the landscape formed when an underground cavity collapses.
losing stream – A surface stream that loses a significant amount of its flow to the subsurface through bedrock openings.
limestone – A sedimentary rock composed of calcium carbonate; a rock of marine origin derived from the lime mud and ooze that accumulated on calm, shallow sea floors.
Caves | Springs | Sinkholes | Losing Streams | Publications | Photos
Caves
Missouri is home to more than 6,000 caves, making us second to only Tennessee. If you are interested in learning more about caves, going on a tour, or going spelunking, follow the links below.
Spelunking Organizations
- Meramec Valley Grotto - St. Louis, MO
- Middle Mississippi Valley Grotto - St. Louis, MO
- Kansas City Area Grotto - Kansas City, MO
- Pony Express Grotto - St. Joseph, MO
- Chouteau Grotto - Columbia, MO
- MSM Spelunker’s Grotto - Rolla, MO
- Branson Area Tri-Lakes Grotto - Branson, MO
- Lake Ozarks Grotto - Lake of the Ozarks, MO
- SEMO Grotto - Cape Girardeau, MO
- Ozark Highlands Grotto - Springfield, MO
- Heart of the Ozarks Grotto - Springfield, MO
- Springfield Plateau Grotto - Springfield, MO
- Little Egypt Grotto - Carbondale, IL
- Windy City Grotto - Chicago, IL
- Boston Mountain Grotto - Northwest AR
- Ozark Cave Diving Alliance - Missouri and Arkansas
Scientific Organizations
- Missouri Speleological Survey
- National Speleological Society
- Cave Research Foundation
- Missouri Caves and Karst Conservancy
Missouri State Parks - Cave Tours
Missouri State Parks - Wild Cave Tours
Missouri State Parks with Caves On-Site
- Meramec State Park
- Lake of the Ozarks State Park
- Ha Ha Tonka State Park
- Grand Gulf State Park
- Onondaga Cave State Park
- Roaring River State Park
- Rock Bridge Memorial State Park
- Graham Cave State Park
Commercial Cave Tours
General Cave Information - Missouri State Parks
Springs
Missouri is blessed with an abundance of springs. The Missouri Ozarks comprises one of the nation’s greatest concentrations of springs. Truly they are one of Missouri’s most important assets.
Discharges of Large Springs in Missouri
(gallons per day)
Name of Spring |
County |
Maximum Discharge |
Average Discharge |
| Big | Carter | 840,000,000 | 276,000,000 |
| Greer | Oregon | 583,000,000 | 214,000,000 |
| Double | Ozark | 150,000,000 | 100,000,000* |
| Bennett | Dallas | 100,000,000 | |
| Maramec | Phelps | 420,000,000 | 96,000,000 |
| Blue | Shannon | 153,000,000 | 90,000,000* |
| Alley | Shannon | 81,000,000 | |
| Welch | Shannon | 214,000,000 | 75,000,000* |
| Boiling | Pulaski | 45,000,000 | 68,000,000* |
| Blue | Oregon | 65,000,000 | 61,000,000* |
| Montauk | Dent | 79,000,000 | 53,000,000* |
| Ha Ha Tonka | Camden | 123,000,000 | 48,000,000 |
| North Fork | Ozark | 49,000,000 | |
| Round | Shannon | 336,000,000 | 26,500,000 |
| Hodgson Mill | Ozark | 29,000,000 | 24,000,000* |
*Estimated
**Peak Flows affected by runoff upstream from spring, after heavy rains.
[Data Source: Springs of Missouri (see below) Dates of Record: 1900-1972]
Known Springs in Missouri
Sinkholes
A sinkhole (also called a doline) is a depressed area usually formed by solution of surficial bedrock or collapse of underlying caves. The surface expression of a sinkhole is typically a conical depression or area of internal drainage.
- How Sinkholes Form
- That Sinking Feeling - a Void, a Collapse - by Jim Vandike, Missouri Resources, Spring/Summer 2003,
Vol. 20, No. 1.
Sinkholes in Missouri
Losing Streams
Losing Streams in Missouri
Publications
Missouri - The Cave State, Fact Sheet--PUB664 (06/02)
Missouri Springs, Fact Sheet--PUB656
WR-29. Springs of Missouri, 84.76 MB by Jerry D. Vineyard and Gerald L. Feder, with sections on fauna and flora by William L. Pflieger and Robert G. Lipscomb, 267 p., 94 figs., 26 tbls., 1974 (reprinted 1982). Describes and locates large springs of Missouri; includes rates of flow, and water composition and quality. Provides information on what makes springs work, pollution potential, historical use of springs, and flora and fauna found in and around them.
WR-35. Hydrology of Carbonate Terrane—Niangua, Osage Fork, and Grandglaize Basins, Missouri, 51.31 MB by E.J. Harvey, John Skelton, and Don E. Miller, with section on Engineering Geology of Conns Creek Drainage System, by Thomas J. Dean, 132 p., 4 maps, 1983. Presents hydrologic data emphasizing distinguishing losing and gaining stream reaches and their relationship to groundwater movement.
WR-38. The Hydrogeology of the Bennett Spring Area, Laclede, Dallas, Webster, and Wright Counties, Missouri 60.03 MB by James E. Vandike, 105 p., 44 fig., 26 tbl, 1992. A study to help better understand the hydrology of Bennet Spring, delineate the area providing its recharge, and study the surface-subsurface relationships in the area.
WR-40. Movement of Shallow Groundwater in the Perryville Karst Area, Southeastern Missouri 24.46 MB , by James E. Vandike, 1985, 58 p., 23 figs., 3 tbls., (Previously Miscellaneous Publication Number 44).
WR-43. Hydrogeologic Investigation of the Fulbright Area, Greene County, Missouri 26.35 MB , by James E. Vandike and L. Daniel Sherman, 1994, 114 p., 36 figs., 1 tbl., 1 app.
WR-55. The Hydrology of Maramec Spring 10.58 MB , by James E. Vandike, 1997, 104 p., 33 figs, 8 tbls, 1 app.
WR-68. The Springs of Greene County, Missouri, by Loring Bullard, Watershed Committee of the Ozarks, Kenneth C. Thomson, Southwest Missouri State University and James E. Vandike, Missouri Department of Natural Resources, 120 p, 62 figs., 1 app. The Ozarks contains ones of the highest concentrations of springs in the world, and Greene County, in the southwestern Ozarks, has hundreds that flow all year (perennial). This book tells the history of the earliest white settlers and the springs they settled by in Greene County. Biology, geology and hydrogeology are all included in this report written by three authors about the Greene County springs.
To purchase any of the publications above, you may contact the Missouri Water Resources Center at 573-368-2175, or send an email to mowaters@dnr.mo.gov
Photos
Bennett Spring, Dallas County, average flow about 114 million gallons per day
Greer Spring (lower outlet) Oregon County, average flow about 222 million gallons per day
Blue Spring, Shannon County, average flow about 85 million gallons per day
Alley Spring, Shannon County, average flow about 87 million gallons per day
Big Spring, Carter County, average flow about 289 million gallons per day
Maramec Spring, Phelps County, average flow about 100 million gallons per day
Double Spring, Ozark County, average flow about 82 million gallons per day
Welch Spring, Shannon County, average flow about 120 million gallons per day
Goodwin Hollow at Missouri Highway 5 north of Lebanon in Laclede County. Upstream from this
point this losing stream drains more than 72 square miles, but seldom has any flow. Water lost
underground in this drainage provides recharge to Bennett, Sweet Blue, and Ha Ha Tonka springs.
Sinkhole near Edgar Springs in Phelps County
Trash disposed in a sinkhole, Laclede County. Dye tracing shows this sinkhole
to provide recharge to Ha Ha Tonka Spring.