Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Soil questions My Clay Test Video

Hey Guys,

In my area this clay type is very abundant(No one can say if that is 100% clay or not. Because there is no use of clay in my area) .

My bucket test failed, because of my stupidness and i need some more clay for bucket test.

But here i did pencil test which Esshup told me. What do you think? Is that really clay and useful for pond purpose?

P.S. When the soil in the bucket dried, it was too hard(real hard to break into pieces). I think maybe this is a proof that , this thing is really clay.




Couple photos from where i took it:

Looks like clay to me with some sand. That's OK. I think it will work.

Thanks Dave. Let's see what others think. Added couple pics.

Yes, this is clay and sand mixture.
I think you may use it or your pond.

It looks a lot like my soil. The problem is that when I get a good rain, the sand washes off into the pond and stays suspended for quite some time. I have recently added tree limbs and branches to the run off areas to hold back the sand. Over time, I have gotten some 1 foot deep ruts in my dam. I recently filled the ruts with big rocks to slow down the water.

Dave:

So, with the proper moisture and proper compaction, do you think it'll hold water without a liner?

Scott, it all depends on the mix of sand/clay. Wicking never really stops no matter what the soil is.

I looked at a N. Texas pond a couple of years ago that was a mix of clay and gravel. It seems to work if compacted. I wouldn't have believed it but all of the ponds in that area had gravel.

I'm no expert but the cracks in the surface of the soil in the pictures are I beleive caused by the clay content.

Our soils bake and crack like that (we have a fair amount of clay in our topsoils) and from what I have been told by our extension folks it is because the clay particles expand when they are wet and shrink when they get dry, causing the cracks. This is what causes the clay to be able to hold water. It swells and shuts up the pores when it gets wet.