Thanks... I moved out of the city almost 2 years ago after nearly a year of building a home (weather delays, etc). I happened to be on site the day the guy came and dug the septic. I couldn't help but notice that after a couple of feet, it was this thick, sticky, clay. It didn't look very permeable at all for liquids and the spot I'm looking to poke a hole for the pond isn't too far from that area, so the geology should be similar. I am having a guy come out with a small backhoe and dig an 8 or 10 foot sample hole in my desired pond location this week so we can check the consistency of the soil. I'll probably hold off a bit to progress beyond that until after I get some more learnin' under my belt and hopefully attend the Pond Boss convention mid-month.
/c
West of I45 is different than East. Both the soils and rainfall. You can see it in the vegitation.
Don't let anyone discourage you. Odds are you have good clay a few feet beneath your sandy loam surface soil. Local dirt guys will have a reliable gut feel. The dirt guy will know how to build your pond and how big and deep it can and should be.
