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Far in California’s Sierra mountain range, enormous ice formations are vanishing and expected to dissolve entirely by the start of the coming hundred years, leaving ice-free peaks for the initial occasion in human history, recent studies has discovered.

Age-Old Origins of Sierra Nevada Glaciers

The range's ice sheets are older than previously known, tracing back many thousands of years, with a few as ancient as the last ice age, according to an article published last week.

“Our reconstructed glacial history shows that a coming ice-free Sierra Nevada is without precedent in human history since known peopling of the Americas ~20,000 years ago,” the article declares.

Global Threat to Glaciers

Ice masses around the world are at risk amid the climate crisis. A research released in May of the current year determined that almost forty percent of glaciers are destined to melt because of global heating. If such heating increases by 2.7 degrees Celsius, which the world is currently on track for, as many as 75% will vanish, causing sea level rise and large-scale relocation.

Throughout the Western United States, glaciers have shrunk substantially since they were first documented in the late 19th century, according to the report.

Concentration on Key Ice Bodies

The recent study centers on four Sierra Nevada glacial masses – the Palisade, Lyell, Maclure and Conness ice sheets – that are some of the biggest and probably most ancient in the range. Their longevity amid global heating makes them “bellwethers” for examining glacier disappearance in the western region, the study states.

Study Techniques and Results

Scientists looked at newly uncovered base rock around the glaciers and took samples to determine how extensively the region was blanketed by glacial ice. They determined that the glaciers have covered swaths of the range for far longer than previously known – since prior to people inhabited North America.

California’s glaciers reached their maximum positions as early as 30,000 years ago, the article’s authors stated, and one of the glaciers researchers looked at is thought to have expanded seven thousand years ago, sooner than once thought. The disappearance of glaciers, for the first time in human history, demonstrates the profound effects of the climate change, a researcher of the investigation said.

Environmental and Representational Consequences

“We’ll be the initial ones to witness the glacier-less summits,” said Andrew Jones, the principal investigator. “This has environmental implications for plants and animals. And it’s a symbolic loss. Climate change is highly intangible, but these ice masses are concrete. They’re iconic features of the Western U.S..”