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Deep in California’s Sierra mountain range, enormous ice formations are vanishing and projected to melt away entirely by the start of the coming hundred years, resulting in summits without glaciers for the first time in human history, recent studies has discovered.

Age-Old Origins of Sierra Nevada Ice Masses

The range's glaciers are more ancient than earlier understood, tracing back tens of thousands of years, with a few as ancient as the last ice age, according to an article released recently.

“Our reconstructed ice age record shows that a future glacier-free Sierra Nevada is without precedent in the history of humankind since known settlement of the Americas ~20,000 years ago,” the article declares.

Worldwide 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 determined that nearly 40% of ice sheets are destined to melt because of climate warming. If such heating rises by 2.7C, which the planet is presently on track for, as up to 75% will disappear, causing sea level rise and large-scale relocation.

Across the Western United States, ice formations have shrunk significantly since they were first documented in the late 19th century, according to the article.

Concentration on Major Glaciers

The new research centers on several Sierra Nevada glaciers – the Conness, Maclure, Lyell and Palisade ice sheets – that are among the biggest and probably oldest in the mountain chain. Their durability amid climate warming makes them “bellwethers” for studying ice loss in the west, the article states.

Research Methods and Results

Researchers examined newly uncovered bedrock around the glaciers and collected specimens to determine how extensively the region was covered by glacial ice. They found that the glaciers have enveloped large areas of the mountain system for far longer than earlier believed – since before people inhabited North America.

California’s glaciers attained their maximum positions as long ago as 30,000 years ago, the article’s authors wrote, and one of the glaciers researchers looked at is believed to have grown seven thousand years ago, sooner than previously believed. The loss of ice formations, for the initial time in recorded history, demonstrates the profound impacts of the climate crisis, a researcher of the investigation said.

Environmental and Representational Impact

“We’ll be the first to witness the glacier-less summits,” said Andrew Jones, the principal investigator. “This has environmental implications for plants and animals. And it’s a representational decline. Global warming is highly intangible, but these glaciers are concrete. They’re symbolic elements of the Western U.S..”