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Sinkhole Polygons of the Ozark Plateaus, Northern Arkansas from Topographic Maps

Metadata Updated: November 20, 2025

Springs and sinkholes in the Ozark Plateaus Physiographic Province (Ozarks) in Arkansas were digitized from 1:24,000-scale topographic maps to produce a digital dataset of karst features. Karst landscapes generally are created from bedrock dissolution that results in distinctive landforms, including sinkholes, springs, caves, and sinking streams, and a high degree of interaction between surface water and groundwater. The dataset can be used to better understand groundwater flow in the karst landscape of the Arkansas Ozarks and potential effects of karst-feature density on water quality, geomorphology, water resources, and karst hazards. In the Ozarks, karst features are present in several limestone and dolomite formations (for example, the Boone Formation, Pitkin Limestone, and Powell Dolomite). Springs (points) and sinkholes (polygons and centroid points) were digitized from over 200 topographic quadrangle maps from 22 different counties with published dates ranging from 1942 to 2014. The digitization efforts using the topographic maps resulted in 805 springs and 1,242 sinkholes across the Arkansas Ozarks. This dataset represents the sinkhole polygons from the digitization efforts. Topographic maps were the only source of data used to provide a distribution from a single data source over the Ozarks in Arkansas. This karst-feature dataset will be a resource for years to come in karst science, water science, geomorphology, and other fields.

Access & Use Information

Public: This dataset is intended for public access and use. License: No license information was provided. If this work was prepared by an officer or employee of the United States government as part of that person's official duties it is considered a U.S. Government Work.

Downloads & Resources

Dates

Metadata Created Date September 13, 2025
Metadata Updated Date November 20, 2025

Metadata Source

Harvested from DOI USGS DCAT-US

Additional Metadata

Resource Type Dataset
Metadata Created Date September 13, 2025
Metadata Updated Date November 20, 2025
Publisher U.S. Geological Survey
Maintainer
Identifier http://datainventory.doi.gov/id/dataset/usgs-5728fd08e4b0b13d3918aa35
Data Last Modified 2020-08-21T00:00:00Z
Category geospatial
Public Access Level public
Bureau Code 010:12
Metadata Context https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.jsonld
Metadata Catalog ID https://ddi.doi.gov/usgs-data.json
Schema Version https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema
Catalog Describedby https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.json
Harvest Object Id 98ca1743-224e-4fd6-a4af-907bd2f30c57
Harvest Source Id 2b80d118-ab3a-48ba-bd93-996bbacefac2
Harvest Source Title DOI USGS DCAT-US
Metadata Type geospatial
Source Datajson Identifier True
Source Hash dab3d39c2bc4a9463a1b2ac3b63c44f1f133d532f4309cc125c38b4f27162f2c
Source Schema Version 1.1

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