Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Soil questions Gumbo mud.....help!

I want to get a pond going on my dad's land. He called the soil out his way "gumbo mud". I'm not sure what the makeup of it is, but will I have trouble with a pond with this type of mud?

True Black Gumbo is said to be very good for holding water.

People have all sorts of names for the dirt on their land, but that doesn't mean that's what they actually have. Either get an experienced dirt guy out there, or take samples in to have it tested to know what you actually have.

Remember this, dirt changes at different levels. What you have on the surface is not what you have down deeper. When I dug my small pond, I had red clay, then grey clay. The grey stuff didn't compact very well, so I had to haul it out and use it for fill on a hillside. The red clay has excellent compaction to it and was used to build some roads.

When I dug my big pond, I started out with red clay in parts and black loam in others. I dug down about two feet and hit a really nice layer of brown clay that was another four to six feet thick. Under that was a black clay. It was all different, but when mixed together, created a very strong dam.

Good luck,
Eddie

I agree with Eddie, local names most often are not in agreement.

Gulf coast “gumbo mud” is nothing more than compacted recent silty sediments, deposited in an estuary environment, acidic in nature.

North Texas Gumbo is actually Cretaceous carbonate weathered soil, alkaline in nature.

If you walk on it when it is wet, you will know. If it is clay gumbo, you will get taller with every step you take. That's not all good. When things get hot and dry, it seems to crack. The best dam substance is a sandy loam with about 40% or so clay.