page_title: Oneida Lake
section_title: Geology
hierarchical_section_title: Oneida Lake / Geology
caption_attribution_description: Sylvan Beach Oneida Lake
context_page_description: Oneida Lake is the largest lake entirely within New York state, with a surface area of 79.8 square miles.
  The lake is located northeast of Syracuse and near the Great Lakes. It feeds the Oneida River, a tributary of the Oswego River, which flows into Lake Ontario. From the earliest times until the opening of the Erie Canal in 1825, the lake was part of an important waterway connecting the Atlantic seaboard of North America to the continental interior.
  The lake is about 21 miles long and about 5 miles wide with an average depth of 22 feet. The shoreline is about 55 miles. Portions of six counties and sixty-nine communities are in the watershed. Oneida Creek, which flows past the cities of Oneida and Sherrill, empties into the southeast part of the lake at South Bay. While not included as one of the Finger Lakes, Oneida is sometimes referred to as their "thumb". Because it is shallow, it is warmer than the deeper Finger Lakes in summer, and its surface freezes solidly in winter. It is relatively safe and popular for the winter sports of ice fishing and snowmobiling.
context_section_description: Oneida Lake is a remnant of Glacial Lake Iroquois, a large prehistoric lake formed when glaciers blocked (from downstream) the flow of the St. Lawrence River, the outlet of the Great Lakes to the Atlantic Ocean.
caption: Located on the eastern shore of Oneida Lake, Sylvan Beach, New York is a popular summer boating destination, thanks to its shallow water and sandy bottom.
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