We just scratched the surface of the clay and it’s in a small spot. It went from brown clay to a patch of grey clay that felt like paste when wet. I believe you would say It is “virgin”. that’s when the digging stopped. It was left alone for several days and dried kind of crusty if that makes sense. We didn’t actually hit shale, but a couple small pieces were mixed in the grey clay there. I am probably 3-400 yards off of Lake Erie, so we were cautious of that. As far as being fractured or anything, we didn’t go that deep, so I don’t know. I didn’t want to take the risk. I pumped about 1-2 feet of water in it last week with water from another pond of mine and the water level hasn’t gone down. So I feel I’m lucky there. I hope that helps answer your questions! I will post pictures in a new thread soon then!