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Far in the state of Sierra mountain range, massive ice formations are disappearing and projected to melt away entirely by the start of the next century, leaving summits without glaciers for the first time in human history, new research has discovered.

Ancient Beginnings of Sierra Nevada Glaciers

The mountain range’s ice sheets are older than previously known, tracing back tens of thousands of years, with a few as old as the last ice age, according to a report released last week.

“Our reconstructed glacial history shows that a coming glacier-free Sierra Nevada is unprecedented in the history of humankind since known peopling of the Americas ~20,000 years ago,” the study declares.

Global Risk to Ice Formations

Glaciers around the world are at risk during the climate emergency. A research published in the month of May of the current year found that almost forty percent of glaciers are destined to melt because of climate warming. If such heating rises by 2.7C, which the world is currently on course for, as many as seventy-five percent will vanish, leading to sea level rise and large-scale relocation.

Throughout the Western United States, ice formations have shrunk significantly since they were first documented in the 1800s, according to the report.

Concentration on Major Ice Bodies

The new research centers on several Sierra Nevada glaciers – the Conness, Maclure, Lyell and Palisade ice sheets – that are among the largest and probably most ancient in the range. Their longevity amid global heating makes them “bellwethers” for studying glacier disappearance in the west, the article notes.

Study Techniques and Results

Researchers examined recently exposed bedrock around the glaciers and collected specimens to ascertain how long the region was blanketed by glacial ice. They determined that the glaciers have covered large areas of the range for far longer than earlier believed – since prior to humans inhabited North America.

California’s glaciers reached their maximum positions as early as 30,000 years ago, the study's researchers wrote, and a particular of the glaciers experts looked at is thought to have grown 7,000 years ago, sooner than once thought. The loss of glaciers, for the initial time in recorded history, demonstrates the profound effects of the climate change, one author of the investigation said.

Ecological and Symbolic 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 environmental ramifications for plants and animals. And it’s a representational decline. Climate change is very abstract, but these ice masses are concrete. They’re symbolic elements of the American West.”