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Glaciated Reading Prong/Hudson Highlands

Ecoregion in Appalachian Mountains in NJ, NY

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The Glaciated Reading Prong/Hudson Highlands ecoregion forms a low portion of the Appalachian Mountains connecting the mid-Appalachians with the Berkshires and Green Mountains in New England. The Hudson Highlands are at the northern end of the Reading Prong, an extension of the Precambrian gneiss and schist that underlies New England. Resistant bedrock is often exposed, as it is where the Hudson River cuts through highland bedrock creating cliff faces on both sides of the river. Soils in Ecoregion 58i are shallow, rocky, and highly acidic. As a result, the region is mostly forested with transition hardwoods, that is, Appalachian oak-hickory on drier sites and northern hardwoods and hemlock on north slopes and moist sites. Naturally acidic runoff plus acid deposition from upwind industrial sources put Highlands lakes at risk for future harm to aquatic life from acidification. The forested highlands provide a natural buffer zone and an outer boundary for the New York City megalopolis.

— EPA

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