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Mohawk Valley

Ecoregion in NY

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The Mohawk Valley separates the Glaciated Low Allegheny Plateau (60a) to the south from the Adirondack Mountains (Ecoregions 58aa, 58ab, and 58ac) to the north. The valley is underlain by limestone and shale dipping somewhat to the south away from the Adirondack Mountains. These rocks are more erodible than the granites and gneisses forming the Adirondacks or the resistant shales and sandstone-capped shales of the Northern Allegheny Plateau (60). During the recession of the Pleistocene glaciers, Glacial Lake Iroquois overflowed near Lake Oneida and a torrent flowed down what is now the Mohawk Valley, eroding the valley floor and leaving a delta of sand and silt in Glacial Lake Albany (part of Ecoregion 59i). Valley soils are loamy, moist Alfisols derived from glacial till that support dairy farming, pasture, and associated forage crops. The Mohawk Valley, although broad, is irregular and hilly, and the flat Mohawk River floodplain is quite narrow in places. The valley has served as a corridor to western New York (and the Midwest) since the early 18th century, first for settlers, then for transport with the construction of the Erie and Barge Canals, railroads, and highways. Canal building, channelization, and highway and railroad construction have affected the pattern and structure of the river’s natural meanders and wetlands.

— EPA

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