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Deep in California’s Sierra mountain range, massive glaciers are vanishing and expected to melt away entirely by the beginning of the next century, leaving ice-free peaks for the initial occasion in human history, new research has found.

Ancient Origins of Sierra Nevada Ice Masses

The mountain range’s ice sheets are older than earlier understood, tracing back many thousands of years, with a few as old as the most recent glacial period, according to an article published last week.

“Our reconstructed glacial history shows that a coming ice-free Sierra Nevada is unprecedented in human history since documented peopling of the Americas ~20,000 years ago,” the article states.

Worldwide Risk to Glaciers

Glaciers globally are under threat amid the climate crisis. A research released in May of the current year found that nearly 40% of ice sheets are doomed to melt because of global heating. If this warming increases by 2.7 degrees Celsius, which the planet is presently on track for, as many as seventy-five percent will vanish, causing sea level rise and large-scale relocation.

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

Concentration on Key Ice Bodies

The new research centers on four Sierra Nevada glaciers – the Palisade, Lyell, Maclure and Conness ice sheets – that are some of the largest and probably most ancient in the range. Their longevity during global heating makes them “bellwethers” for studying ice loss in the west, the study states.

Study Techniques and Findings

Scientists examined recently exposed base rock around the ice formations and collected specimens to ascertain how long the area was covered by glacial ice. They found that the ice masses have covered large areas of the mountain system for much longer than previously known – since prior to humans occupied North America.

The state's glacial sheets attained their peak extents as early as thirty thousand years ago, the study's researchers wrote, and a particular of the glaciers researchers studied is believed to have grown seven thousand years ago, earlier than once thought. The disappearance of ice formations, for the first time in human history, demonstrates the dramatic effects of the climate change, one author of the investigation said.

Environmental and Symbolic Impact

“We’ll be the first to witness the glacier-less summits,” said Andrew Jones, the study’s lead author. “This has environmental implications for flora and fauna. And it’s a symbolic loss. Global warming is very abstract, but these glaciers are tangible. They’re symbolic elements of the Western U.S..”