If you have a smaller pond with groundwater being infused in some manner, either well water or aquafer, your smaller ponds will be less likely to have ice as thick as surrounding ponds.
Is that a reasonable assumption?
Why would you need to follow traditional edge sloping in an excavated pond? Couldn't you use a 2/1 slope on one half, and a 1/1 on the other? I would think that would help control rooted aquatic vegetation as well.
