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Far in California’s Sierra Nevada, massive ice formations are vanishing and expected to melt away completely by the start of the coming hundred years, leaving summits without glaciers for the first time in recorded human existence, new research has discovered.

Ancient Origins of Sierra Nevada Glaciers

The mountain range’s ice sheets are more ancient than previously known, tracing back tens of thousands of years, with some as old as the most recent glacial period, according to a report published recently.

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

Worldwide Threat to Ice Formations

Glaciers around the world are at risk during the climate emergency. A study published in the month of May of the current year determined that almost forty percent of ice sheets are destined to melt because of climate warming. If such heating increases by 2.7 degrees Celsius, which the world is presently on track for, as up to seventy-five percent will vanish, causing sea level rise and large-scale relocation.

Across the American west, glaciers have shrunk substantially since they were initially recorded in the late 19th century, according to the article.

Concentration on Major Glaciers

The recent study centers on four Sierra Nevada glaciers – the Conness, Maclure, Lyell and Palisade glaciers – that are some of the biggest and probably oldest in the mountain chain. Their durability during climate warming makes them “bellwethers” for studying glacier disappearance in the west, the study notes.

Study Techniques and Findings

Researchers looked at recently exposed bedrock around the ice formations and took samples to ascertain how long the region was blanketed by glacial ice. They found that the ice masses have covered large areas of the range for much longer than earlier believed – since before humans inhabited North America.

California’s glacial sheets attained their peak extents as long ago as 30,000 years ago, the study's researchers wrote, and a particular of the ice bodies experts looked at is thought to have grown 7,000 years ago, sooner than once thought. The disappearance of ice formations, for the first time in human history, shows the profound effects of the climate crisis, a researcher of the investigation said.

Environmental and Representational Impact

“We’ll be the initial ones to see the glacier-less summits,” said Andrew Jones, the study’s lead author. “This has environmental implications for flora and fauna. And it’s a representational decline. Climate change is very abstract, but these ice masses are tangible. They’re iconic features of the Western U.S..”