thanks for the reply.
the pond site is significantly sloped, so the builder dog the hole and used that material to build a dam on the low end. no ravine. the sides were pretty well clay looking. I will check around the dam when some of this stupid snow and ice clears. they did leave kind of a shelf in the bottom of the pond opposite the dam that ended up with deep ruts (2') from water runoff before the grass took hold (new house construction)...that area may be suspect as well
