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Far in the state of Sierra mountain range, enormous ice formations are vanishing and projected to dissolve completely by the start of the coming hundred years, leaving summits without glaciers for the initial occasion in recorded human existence, new research has found.

Ancient Origins of Sierra Nevada Glaciers

The range's glaciers are older than earlier understood, dating back tens of thousands of years, with some as old as the last ice age, according to an article released last week.

“Our pieced-together ice age record shows that a future glacier-free Sierra Nevada is unprecedented in human history since documented settlement of the Americas ~20,000 years ago,” the article declares.

Global Threat to Glaciers

Glaciers around the world are at risk during the climate crisis. A study published in May of this year determined that almost forty percent of ice sheets are destined to melt because of global heating. If this warming rises by 2.7C, which the planet is currently on track for, as many as 75% will vanish, leading to ocean level increase and large-scale relocation.

Across the American west, glaciers have diminished substantially since they were first documented in the 1800s, according to the article.

Concentration on Key Ice Bodies

The recent study centers on several Sierra Nevada glaciers – the Conness, Maclure, Lyell and Palisade glaciers – that are among the biggest and probably most ancient in the range. Their longevity during global heating makes them “bellwethers” for studying glacier disappearance in the west, the article states.

Research Methods and Results

Researchers looked at newly uncovered bedrock around the glaciers and took samples to ascertain how extensively the region was blanketed by glacial ice. They found that the ice masses have enveloped swaths of the range for much longer than previously known – since prior to humans inhabited North America.

The state's glaciers reached their maximum positions as early as thirty thousand years ago, the study's researchers stated, and one of the ice bodies experts studied is believed to have expanded seven thousand years ago, sooner than once thought. The disappearance of ice formations, for the first time in human history, demonstrates the dramatic effects of the climate change, a researcher of the study said.

Environmental and Representational Consequences

“We’ll be the initial ones to witness the ice-free peaks,” said Andrew Jones, the study’s lead author. “This has environmental implications for flora and fauna. And it’s a representational decline. Global warming is highly intangible, but these ice masses are concrete. They’re iconic features of the Western U.S..”