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Far in the state of Sierra Nevada, massive ice formations are vanishing and expected to melt away completely by the beginning of the coming hundred years, leaving summits without glaciers for the first time in recorded human existence, recent studies has found.

Age-Old Beginnings of Sierra Nevada Glaciers

The mountain range’s ice sheets are more ancient than earlier understood, tracing back many thousands of years, with some as old as the most recent glacial period, according to an article released recently.

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

Global Threat to Ice Formations

Glaciers globally are under threat during the climate crisis. A study published in the month of May of the current year found that nearly 40% of glaciers are destined to thaw because of global heating. If such heating increases by 2.7C, which the world is presently on track for, as up to 75% will disappear, causing sea level rise and large-scale relocation.

Throughout the Western United States, glaciers have diminished significantly since they were initially recorded in the 1800s, according to the article.

Focus on Major Glaciers

The recent study centers on four Sierra Nevada glacial masses – the Palisade, Lyell, Maclure and Conness ice sheets – that are some of the largest and probably most ancient in the range. Their durability amid global heating makes them “bellwethers” for examining ice loss in the west, the article states.

Study Techniques and Findings

Researchers looked at recently exposed bedrock around the ice formations and collected specimens to ascertain how long the area was blanketed by glacial ice. They found that the glaciers have enveloped large areas of the mountain system for much longer than earlier believed – since prior to people occupied North America.

California’s glacial sheets attained their peak extents as early as thirty thousand years ago, the study's researchers stated, and one of the ice bodies researchers studied is thought to have grown seven thousand years ago, earlier than once thought. The loss of glaciers, for the first time in human history, demonstrates the dramatic impacts of the climate change, a researcher of the study said.

Environmental and Representational Impact

“We’ll be the initial ones to see the glacier-less summits,” said Andrew Jones, the study’s lead author. “This has environmental ramifications 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 American West.”