I dug down about 2 feet in the deepest part of the pond site. This was about 2 or 3 weeks ago and the ground was very dry. It was also very hard. I couldn't drive my shovel more than a couple of inches into the soil and then I'd use leverage to break it up. The soil looked the same and had the same properties top to bottom.
Here's the hole. The sides were very stable.
As I broke it up it tended to stay in large pieces.
Here I mixed some water in. I could feel a large amount of sand in it, but it easily held it's shape.
Here's the "sling it and wing it" test. The ball on the right was the drier of the two. I chucked it pretty hard and it hit a flexible part of my truck with 1/2 of the soil flying off on contact. The sample on the left got a little more water added and I hit a more solid area of the truck. All of it stayed in place. I have little doubt that it would stay there until it dries.
Does any of this sophisticated research give anyone a better idea of what I'm working with here? The bottom line is that if the clay content of the site isn't good enough there is a good source only about 300 feet away, where the dam core is being collected.
