On a 12 m bench in June, a thin wet clay lens at mid-height acted like a sponge — VOD looked fine but the burden peeled above the contact and left a razor-straight toe for about 25 m. Classic impedance mismatch moment where the muckpile lied to the seismo; anyone else had a blast that behaved perfectly but got robbed by a sneaky moisture seam?
Seen that on a 12 m bench — thin wet clay at mid-height turns the VOD into a liar and peels the burden, leaving that razor-straight 25 m toe. Did your logs show standing water or slough around the contact? I’d deck across the lens with a choke and lighten the top load, then tighten inter-hole delays in that zone to keep energy on the toe.
Agree with @jchen36 — deck off the wet seam and run a water‑resistant product below with slightly tighter front‑row timing to keep the burden honest; did your hole logs flag a moisture spike mid‑column?
I’d bridge that lens with two boosters (just above and below) and a sub‑10 ms interdeck so both sides punch together, and swap to 7–10 mm crushed stemming at the contact instead of cuttings so the gas doesn’t chimney. If it’s persistent, a liner plus a small air deck over the seam or a 5° front‑row lean can help keep the burden honest. Did your logs show continuous moisture or just a “wet blanket” band, @lucas7932?