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Far in California’s Sierra Nevada, enormous glaciers are vanishing and projected to melt away entirely by the start of the coming hundred years, leaving ice-free peaks for the first time in recorded human existence, new research has found.

Ancient Beginnings of Sierra Range Glaciers

The range's ice sheets are more ancient than earlier understood, dating back many thousands of years, with some as ancient as the last ice age, according to an article published recently.

“Our reconstructed ice age record shows that a coming glacier-free Sierra Nevada is without precedent in the history of humankind since known peopling of the Americas around twenty thousand years ago,” the article declares.

Worldwide Threat to Ice Formations

Ice masses around the world are at risk amid the climate crisis. A research published in May of the current year determined that almost forty percent of glaciers are destined to thaw because of global heating. If such heating rises by 2.7 degrees Celsius, which the planet is currently on track for, as up to 75% will disappear, causing ocean level increase 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 article.

Focus on Major Glaciers

The new research centers on four Sierra Nevada glaciers – the Conness, Maclure, Lyell and Palisade glaciers – that are among the biggest and likely most ancient in the mountain chain. Their durability amid global heating makes them “indicators” for examining glacier disappearance in the west, the study notes.

Research Methods and Findings

Researchers looked at newly uncovered base rock around the ice formations and collected specimens to ascertain how long the area was blanketed by ice. They determined that the ice masses have enveloped swaths of the mountain system for much longer than previously known – since before people inhabited North America.

The state's glacial sheets reached their peak extents as early as 30,000 years ago, the article’s authors stated, and one of the glaciers experts 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 study said.

Environmental and Representational Consequences

“We’ll be the first to witness the ice-free peaks,” said the study's lead researcher, the study’s lead author. “This has ecological ramifications for plants and animals. And it’s a symbolic loss. Climate change is very abstract, but these ice masses are tangible. They’re iconic features of the American West.”