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Far in California’s Sierra Nevada, massive ice formations are disappearing and expected to dissolve completely by the start of the next century, resulting in ice-free peaks for the first time in human history, recent studies has discovered.

Age-Old Beginnings of Sierra Range Ice Masses

The mountain range’s glaciers are more ancient than earlier understood, tracing back tens of thousands of years, with a few as old as the most recent glacial period, according to an article released recently.

“Our pieced-together glacial history shows that a coming glacier-free Sierra Nevada is unprecedented in human history since known settlement of the Americas ~20,000 years ago,” the article states.

Global Threat to Glaciers

Glaciers around the world are under threat during the climate crisis. A study released in the month of May of this year found that almost forty percent of glaciers are doomed to melt because of global heating. If such heating rises by 2.7C, which the planet is currently on track for, as many as 75% will disappear, leading to ocean level increase and large-scale relocation.

Across the Western United States, ice formations have diminished substantially since they were first documented in the 1800s, according to the report.

Focus on Major Glaciers

The new research focuses on four Sierra Nevada glaciers – the Palisade, Lyell, Maclure and Conness glaciers – that are some of the biggest and probably most ancient in the range. Their durability amid global heating makes them “bellwethers” for studying ice loss in the west, the article states.

Research Methods and Results

Researchers looked at recently exposed base rock around the ice formations and took samples to determine how long the region was blanketed by glacial ice. They determined that the glaciers have covered swaths of the mountain system for much longer than earlier believed – since before people occupied North America.

The state's glacial sheets attained their peak extents as long ago as 30,000 years ago, the article’s authors stated, and one of the glaciers researchers looked at is thought to have grown seven thousand years ago, sooner than previously believed. The disappearance of glaciers, for the initial time in human history, demonstrates the dramatic effects of the climate crisis, one author of the investigation said.

Environmental and Representational Consequences

“We’ll be the first to see the glacier-less summits,” said Andrew Jones, the study’s lead author. “This has ecological ramifications for plants and animals. And it’s a representational decline. Global warming is highly intangible, but these glaciers are concrete. They’re iconic features of the American West.”