Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Has anyone dealt with a sinkhole?

I have a rather small sinkhole where I would prefer to build my pond. The area used to hold water, but this 2ft by 1ft sinkhole have sucked up all of the water. Has anyone ever dealt with a sinkhole in their pond and how did you fix it?

I plan on getting a backhoe and digging it out to see what I am dealing with. Hopefully its something simple and I can easily fix the problem. Does anyone know a good pond builder in Southern Indiana? I have gotten a few quotes from local excavators, but no one with good experience.

Thanks!

I had a sink hole caused by a broken drain field tile. It was replaced and the sink hole never came back. It became big enough that an electric golf cart would fit in it.

Before building my pond I probed the field I was putting my pond in (lots of work) and found a hub of field tile with spokes running outward like a wagon wheel. This is where I centered my pond. So I had a lot of broken tile in my pond area as the pond was bulldozed. As the pond filled I had two bad leaks caused by drainage tile that wasn't sealed during the dozing. These were fixed by back hoeing down through the berm around the pond to the tile and then dropping dry concrete in to block off the tile.

Sinkholes in Florida may be different, but be very careful.

What may look very small on the surface may expand out below to be able to swallow a house

I'm no expert but have done lots of research on sinkholes while looking for property in Fl. Most sinkholes are a result of a Limestone based area slowly eroding away until it gets too close to the surface to support the ground above. Google sinkholes, tons of info. It focused my decision as where to buy. Indiana has lots of limestone but as John stated also lots of very old clay tile. Also resaerch and check references on your builder, mine did'nt recognize a gravel/sand vein and now I have a 9' groundwater pond in a 12' hole. I've been told that water will find a drain source as far away as ten feet. I would do as John did and start with probing a 4-6' circle around the hole, might prevent a backhoe expense or if you have a backhoe, dig away. The frost line in Indiana I about 3' so go down about 42"s. Hope all works out simply. If the hole goes well, be patient and research everything extensively. BC and Cecil were extremely helpful in my pond being everything I wanted except deep enough. Bob-O

My ponds and wetlands are all or partially filled from old field tiles. My builders did a great job of sealing them on the outgoing side of the hole, and the fielde tiles add lots of water keeping the water level from dropping very much. No sinkholes in my area as far as I know, other than those cause by blown out tiles (which is common).

Gotta' love the "karst" region of southern Indiana. Sinkhole city.

Definitely true there. It's beautiful countryside but it definitely has its holes.

Thanks for all of the help. I think my next step is to just get a backhoe out there and take a look at what's going on. I have also contacted a few ground penetrating radar companies and that might be an avenue as well.

What sort of pre-pond building tests I should do at the property? I have just ordered the perfect pond want one? book and hope to get a lot of useful info from that as well.

You can see the pond location here - http://m.google.com/u/m/wksXBo

Best of Luck!

Touch base with the counties NRCS office and agent. You want to see if there is enough good clay to compact into a liner for the pond. Ponds that hold water are a LOT easier to take care of than ones that vary greatly in water volume due to ground water levels.

I have one of the groundwater ponds.....

Be careful. What if it turns out to be one of these! Yes it's real. Somewhere in South American but I forget where.



Seriously i would consider a sinkhole a very poor choice for a pond site. It's just the opposite of what you are looking for. Might even drown some spelunkers.

I completely agree it is a bad site for a pond lol. It really isn't that terrible on the surface though. Maybe 2ft wide by 1ft deep. I don't think it's gonna be a huge hole anytime soon if I can head it off.

I have contacted the local NRCS but he didn't seem like a whole lot of help with sinkholes. The local area has lots of good clay and even the next door neighbors have a nice 1 acre pond that holds water just fine. My uncle is about 500 yards down the street and has had a pond built there as well on the other side of a sinkhole. No one I have talked to has recommended using a roller to compact the soil correctly though so I am still searching.

Right now, the main thing going forward seems to be to dig out the sinkhole and throw some dry concrete in the hole and let it solidify and then backfill with clay. Hopefully that would be enough to stop it. But I am bound and determined to have a pond lol.

Sounds like you have good prospects then. I wish you luck.

My first pond of my four was iffy but worked out fine. After a test dig at 15 feet we hit beautiful sand box sand and gravel that would rival any top producing gravel pit. The pond builder had serious doubts. Like you I wanted a pond in the worst way. He made no guarantees but dug down a few feet short of the permeable layer and packed a couple of feet of good clay on top of that. Worked out great.

I looked up the County Soil Survery and it came back with this type of soil in my pond area. Anyone have any yays or nays on good or bad?


VccD3—Vertrees-Haggatt-Caneyville complex, karst, hilly,
severely eroded
Setting
Landform: Sinkholes on hills underlain with Mississippian limestone bedrock (fig. 7)
Position on landform: Backslopes and shoulders
Map Unit Composition
35 percent Vertrees and similar soils
25 percent Haggatt and similar soils
20 percent Caneyville and similar soils
15 percent Haggatt, eroded and similar soils on backslopes and shoulders
5 percent frequently ponded Haymond, depression and similar soils on toeslopes of
sinkholes
Interpretive Groups
Land capability classification: 6e
Prime farmland: Not prime farmland

Properties and Qualities of the Vertrees Soil
Parent material: Thin loess and the underlying clayey residuum over Mississippian
limestone bedrock
Drainage class: Well drained

Permeability range to a depth of 40 inches: Moderately slow or moderate
Permeability range below a depth of 40 inches: Moderately slow
Depth to restrictive feature: 60 to 120 inches to lithic bedrock
Available water capacity: About 7.0 inches to a depth of 60 inches
Organic matter content of surface layer: 0.5 to 2.0 percent
Shrink-swell potential: High
Seasonal high water table: None
Ponding: None
Flooding: None
Hydric soil: No
Accelerated erosion: Surface layer is mostly subsoil material
Potential frost action: Moderate
Corrosivity: High for steel and moderate for concrete
Potential for surface runoff: High
Water erosion susceptibility: High
Wind erosion susceptibility: Slight

Properties and Qualities of the Haggatt Soil
Parent material: Thin loess and the underlying clayey residuum over Mississippian
limestone bedrock
Drainage class: Well drained
Permeability range to a depth of 40 inches: Moderate
Permeability range below a depth of 40 inches: Moderately slow to rapid
Depth to restrictive feature: 40 to 60 inches to lithic bedrock
Available water capacity: About 5.7 inches to a depth of 60 inches
Organic matter content of surface layer: 0.5 to 2.0 percent
Shrink-swell potential: High
Seasonal high water table: None
Ponding: None
Flooding: None
Hydric soil: No
Accelerated erosion: Surface layer is mostly subsoil material
Potential frost action: Moderate
Corrosivity: High for steel and moderate for concrete
Potential for surface runoff: Medium
Water erosion susceptibility: High
Wind erosion susceptibility: Slight

Properties and Qualities of the Caneyville Soil
Parent material: Thin loess and the underlying clayey residuum over Mississippian
limestone bedrock
Drainage class: Well drained
Permeability range to a depth of 40 inches: Moderately slow to rapid
Permeability range below a depth of 40 inches: Moderately slow to rapid
Depth to restrictive feature: 20 to 40 inches to lithic bedrock
Available water capacity: About 4.3 inches to a depth of 60 inches
Organic matter content of surface layer: 0.5 to 2.0 percent
Shrink-swell potential: High
Seasonal high water table: None
Ponding: None
Flooding: None
Hydric soil: No
Accelerated erosion: Surface layer is mostly subsoil material
Potential frost action: Moderate
Soil Survey of Harrison County, Indiana
90
Corrosivity: High for steel and moderate for concrete
Potential for surface runoff: High
Water erosion susceptibility: High
Wind erosion susceptibility: Slight