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Deep in California’s Sierra Nevada, enormous ice formations are disappearing and expected to dissolve entirely by the start of the next century, resulting in ice-free peaks for the initial occasion in human history, recent studies has found.

Ancient Origins of Sierra Nevada Glaciers

The range's glaciers are more ancient than earlier understood, dating back many thousands of years, with some as ancient as the last ice age, according to an article released recently.

“Our pieced-together ice age record indicates that a coming glacier-free Sierra Nevada is without precedent in human history since known peopling of the Americas around twenty thousand years ago,” the article states.

Worldwide Risk to Ice Formations

Ice masses globally are under threat during the climate crisis. A study released in the month of May of the current year determined that nearly 40% of ice sheets are destined to thaw because of global heating. If this warming increases by 2.7 degrees Celsius, which the planet is currently on course for, as many as seventy-five percent will vanish, leading to sea level rise and mass displacement.

Throughout the Western United States, ice formations have diminished significantly since they were first documented in the late 19th century, according to the article.

Focus on Key Glaciers

The recent study centers on several Sierra Nevada glacial masses – the Palisade, Lyell, Maclure and Conness ice sheets – that are among the biggest and probably oldest in the range. Their durability during global heating makes them “indicators” for studying glacier disappearance in the west, the study notes.

Research Methods and Results

Researchers examined newly uncovered bedrock around the ice formations and collected specimens to determine how long the area was blanketed by glacial ice. They determined that the ice masses have covered large areas of the range for much longer than previously known – since before humans inhabited North America.

The state's glaciers reached their maximum positions as early as 30,000 years ago, the article’s authors wrote, and a particular of the ice bodies experts looked at is believed to have grown 7,000 years ago, sooner than previously believed. The disappearance of ice formations, for the initial time in human history, demonstrates the profound impacts of the climate crisis, a researcher of the study said.

Environmental and Representational Consequences

“We’ll be the initial ones to see the ice-free peaks,” said Andrew Jones, the study’s lead author. “This has ecological implications for plants and animals. And it’s a representational decline. Climate change is very abstract, but these glaciers are tangible. They’re iconic features of the Western U.S..”