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Deep in California’s Sierra mountain range, enormous ice formations are vanishing and projected to melt away entirely by the start of the coming hundred years, resulting in ice-free peaks for the first time in human history, recent studies has discovered.

Ancient Beginnings of Sierra Nevada Ice Masses

The range's ice sheets are more ancient than earlier understood, dating back tens of thousands of years, with a few as ancient as the last ice age, according to an article published recently.

“Our pieced-together ice age record shows that a future ice-free Sierra Nevada is without precedent in the history of humankind since known settlement of the Americas around twenty thousand years ago,” the article declares.

Global Threat to Glaciers

Glaciers globally are under threat during the climate crisis. A study released in May of the current year found that almost forty percent of ice sheets are destined to thaw because of climate warming. If such heating increases by 2.7C, which the world is currently on track 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 initially recorded in the late 19th century, according to the article.

Focus on Major Ice Bodies

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

Study Techniques and Results

Scientists looked at recently exposed bedrock around the ice formations and collected specimens to determine how long the region was covered by ice. They found that the ice masses have covered swaths of the range for much longer than previously known – since prior to people inhabited North America.

The state's glacial sheets reached their maximum positions as early as thirty thousand years ago, the article’s authors wrote, and a particular of the ice bodies experts studied is thought to have expanded seven thousand years ago, sooner than once thought. The disappearance of glaciers, for the first time in recorded history, demonstrates the profound impacts of the climate crisis, a researcher of the study said.

Ecological and Symbolic Impact

“We’ll be the first to see the ice-free peaks,” said the study's lead researcher, the principal investigator. “This has environmental ramifications for plants and animals. And it’s a symbolic loss. Global warming is very abstract, but these glaciers are tangible. They’re iconic features of the Western U.S..”