Thanks for the great information guys! When we dug on our property for our home basement we encountered 80 percent clay abput 4" of topsoil and 20 percent rock but not gravel size mostly odd shaped boulders and limestone ranging in size from 5" round to the size of a trash can, this was at the very top of the hill where I would think most of the "soil" would have eroded and washed down over the years. We never encountered a hard layer of rock just boulders surrounded in clay. As far as the spring drying up it's never let us down so far even last summer when we had abput a month between rains. we also have a well drilled that I've measured and it hits water roughly in the same spot as the spring. My thoughts about the leaking is that even if it did "leak" since the proposed pond would be a good 60' minimum below the water table and water seaks level as long as the water table didn't drop wouldn't the water from up hill push up into the pond trying to seek level? Maybe my thoughts are Messed up. I fully plan on doing the core trench and even running it into where the dam meets the hillside (all the way around). I also plan on compacting the bottom in lift a removing and large rock and using them for landscaping or rip rap. As far ad catching throw Ayer I currently have the spring pipe design running into a bathtub (a little rednecky I know) Andy then piped into the wood and away from the site of the pond to hopefully dry things up a bit. My issue is where the damage would be built is pretty mushy with I think another spring that I haven't located to pipe which knows will need fully excavated to get down to solid soil before I cut the core trench. My neighbor own some an excavating company And I would hire him to do the excavation but would like to have everything's planned before we start. Thanks guys
I tried to illustrate my water table seeking level on a drawing, whether or not it's true I don't know hahah
