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Far in California’s Sierra Nevada, massive ice formations are vanishing and projected to melt away completely by the start of the coming hundred years, leaving ice-free peaks for the initial occasion in human history, recent studies has found.

Ancient Origins of Sierra Nevada Glaciers

The mountain range’s glaciers are older than earlier understood, tracing back many thousands of years, with a few as ancient as the last ice age, according to an article released last week.

“Our reconstructed ice age record indicates that a coming glacier-free Sierra Nevada is unprecedented in human history since known peopling of the Americas around twenty thousand years ago,” the study declares.

Worldwide Risk to Ice Formations

Ice masses globally are under threat during the climate crisis. A research released in the month of May of the current year determined that almost forty percent of glaciers are destined to melt because of climate warming. If such heating increases by 2.7 degrees Celsius, which the planet is presently on track for, as many as 75% will disappear, causing ocean level increase and mass displacement.

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

Focus on Key Ice Bodies

The recent study focuses on four Sierra Nevada glaciers – the Conness, Maclure, Lyell and Palisade glaciers – that are among the largest and probably most ancient in the range. Their longevity during climate warming makes them “bellwethers” for studying ice loss in the west, the study notes.

Research Methods and Findings

Scientists looked at newly uncovered base rock around the glaciers and took samples to determine how long the region was blanketed by ice. They found that the ice masses have enveloped large areas of the range for much longer than previously known – since prior to people occupied North America.

The state's glacial sheets reached their maximum positions as long ago as 30,000 years ago, the article’s authors wrote, and a particular of the ice bodies experts studied is believed to have expanded seven thousand years ago, sooner than once thought. The disappearance of glaciers, for the first time in human history, shows the profound impacts of the climate change, a researcher of the investigation said.

Ecological and Representational Impact

“We’ll be the initial ones to see the glacier-less summits,” said the study's lead researcher, the study’s lead author. “This has ecological ramifications for flora and fauna. And it’s a representational decline. Climate change is highly intangible, but these glaciers are concrete. They’re iconic features of the Western U.S..”