Meadowlark,
Thanks for the nice words.
We built the pond ourselves. In fact I'm doing most of the work now in the evenings. Our family is in the construction business. I'm sure that we have a shale bottom near the dam. Like I said we sit in a bottom and the pond backs up to a huge wetland. I remember hitting shale when we dug the original basin and the pond actually begining to fill with water. As I stated earlier the lay of the land all falls towards the pond and wetlands, the watershed is well over 50 acres in my estimation. I suspect the vein pictured is what that hill is made of as it seems to rise right into the base. I'm hopeful that the fall of the land where the vein lies would prevent water from running backwards or uphill. Down into an aquifer is the concern I'm most anxious about but I think we may be in the water table already.
