If it is, indeed, a natural pond, you will be able to estimate it's true depth by viewing the terrain above the water level. You can expect the terrain to stay consistent to the center, but more likely it will actually lessen in slope as it moves to the deepest part of the BOW. I say this based on the pics you have provided. I see nothing indicating a ravine or sudden drop off...only a gentle curve to the bowl that contains the water. We had the same thing on our property before we actually constructed the pond. It was the center of a gentle bowl (a 5 acre bowl), but it only help water in a shallow pond about 150 feet across. When the water level reached the critical depth, it would spill out and trickle down a narrow little channel like a brook. About 700 feet away, we had a natural land formation that created 2 little hills on either side of this tiny brook. That's where we set the dam and backed up the big mamu.
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You need to find out if it's man made. Boy, it might just be the same thing we had. That could be very good, but only if you can find where the overflow is running and determine if you can stop the run-off with some kind of dam. Then, of course, you will have to survey to determine the size of the dam to capture and raise the water level.
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oh, and btw...
When we did cut into that original little natural pond, we had to cut thru about 8 feet of silty soil that had been collecting at this, the center of the surrounding bowl. Likely hundreds of years of erosion. Below it? Blue clay.

Last edited by Brettski; 05/07/09 07:04 PM. Reason: mas stuff