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

Ancient Beginnings of Sierra Nevada Ice Masses

The range's glaciers are older than previously known, dating back tens of thousands of years, with some as old as the most recent glacial period, according to a report released recently.

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

Worldwide Risk to Ice Formations

Glaciers globally are under threat during the climate emergency. A study published in the month of May of this year found that nearly 40% of glaciers are doomed to thaw because of climate warming. If such heating rises by 2.7 degrees Celsius, which the planet is currently on track for, as many as 75% will disappear, leading to ocean level increase and large-scale relocation.

Across the Western United States, glaciers have diminished substantially since they were initially recorded in the late 19th century, according to the report.

Focus on Key Ice Bodies

The new research centers on four Sierra Nevada glacial masses – the Palisade, Lyell, Maclure and Conness ice sheets – that are some of the largest and likely most ancient in the mountain chain. Their durability during climate warming makes them “bellwethers” for examining glacier disappearance in the western region, the study notes.

Research Methods and Results

Researchers examined recently exposed bedrock around the glaciers and took samples to determine how long the region was blanketed by ice. They determined that the glaciers have enveloped swaths of the range for much longer than previously known – since prior to humans occupied North America.

The state's glaciers reached their maximum positions as long ago as 30,000 years ago, the study's researchers stated, and a particular of the ice bodies experts looked at is believed to have grown seven thousand years ago, sooner than once thought. The loss of ice formations, for the first time in human history, demonstrates the profound effects 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 plants and animals. And it’s a representational decline. Global warming is highly intangible, but these glaciers are concrete. They’re symbolic elements of the American West.”