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Deep in California’s Sierra Nevada, massive glaciers are vanishing and projected to melt away entirely by the beginning of the next century, resulting in ice-free peaks for the initial occasion in recorded human existence, recent studies has discovered.

Ancient Beginnings of Sierra Nevada Glaciers

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

“Our reconstructed glacial history indicates that a coming ice-free Sierra Nevada is unprecedented in the history of humankind since known settlement of the Americas around twenty thousand years ago,” the article states.

Global Threat to Glaciers

Glaciers globally are at risk during the climate crisis. A study released 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 this warming rises by 2.7 degrees Celsius, which the world is currently on track for, as many as seventy-five percent will vanish, leading to sea level rise and large-scale relocation.

Across the American west, ice formations have diminished significantly since they were initially recorded in the late 19th century, according to the report.

Concentration on Major Ice Bodies

The recent study centers on four Sierra Nevada glaciers – the Conness, Maclure, Lyell and Palisade ice sheets – that are among the largest and probably oldest in the mountain chain. Their longevity during global heating makes them “indicators” for examining glacier disappearance in the west, the article notes.

Study Techniques and Results

Researchers examined recently exposed base rock around the ice formations and collected specimens to ascertain how extensively the region was covered by glacial ice. They determined that the glaciers have covered large areas of the mountain system for far longer than previously known – since before humans occupied North America.

The state's glaciers reached their peak extents as long ago as thirty thousand years ago, the study's researchers stated, and one of the ice bodies researchers studied is thought to have expanded 7,000 years ago, sooner than previously believed. The disappearance of glaciers, for the first time in human history, demonstrates the dramatic impacts of the climate change, a researcher of the investigation said.

Ecological and Representational Impact

“We’ll be the initial ones to witness the ice-free peaks,” said Andrew Jones, the study’s lead author. “This has ecological ramifications for flora and fauna. And it’s a representational decline. Global warming is very abstract, but these glaciers are tangible. They’re symbolic elements of the Western U.S..”