Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Soil questions Sand Bottom

Generally bottom muck develops about 1" of depth on the bottom each year regardless of the composition of the bottom. Heavy leaf inputs significantly increases the annual accumulation. So the sand bottom will accumulate muck as mostly dead organics on top of it over time.

Bottom muck comes from land based organic materials that blow into or plants that grow in the pond. Ponds tend to be productive habitats where all sorts of things grow in them from microscopic phytoplankton to filamenteous algae and weeds. All these plants have life spans from days to months and they then die and sink to the bottom.

Less bottom muck accumulation occurs each year in very low nutrient, very clear water. Watersheds contribute a large percentage of the nutrients. And even in very clear water lakes, submerged plants grow on the bottom where ever light reaches the bottom. Thus the clearer the water the more of the bottom that tends to develop some sort of plant growth.