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Far in California’s Sierra mountain range, massive glaciers are vanishing and expected to melt away completely by the start of the coming hundred years, leaving ice-free peaks for the initial occasion in human history, new research has discovered.

Ancient Beginnings of Sierra Nevada Glaciers

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

“Our reconstructed glacial history shows that a coming ice-free Sierra Nevada is without precedent in the history of humankind since known peopling of the Americas around twenty thousand years ago,” the study states.

Worldwide Risk to Glaciers

Ice masses globally are at risk during the climate crisis. A research released in the month of May of the current year found that nearly 40% of ice sheets are destined to thaw because of global heating. If such heating increases by 2.7 degrees Celsius, which the planet is presently on track for, as up to seventy-five percent will disappear, causing sea level rise and large-scale relocation.

Throughout the American west, glaciers have diminished significantly since they were first documented in the late 19th century, according to the report.

Focus on Major Glaciers

The new research focuses on four Sierra Nevada glaciers – the Conness, Maclure, Lyell and Palisade glaciers – that are some of the biggest and likely most ancient in the range. Their longevity during global heating makes them “bellwethers” for studying glacier disappearance in the western region, the study notes.

Research Methods and Findings

Researchers examined newly uncovered bedrock around the glaciers and took samples to determine how extensively the area was covered by ice. They determined that the ice masses have covered swaths of the range for far longer than previously known – since prior to humans inhabited North America.

The state's glaciers attained their maximum positions as early as thirty thousand years ago, the study's researchers stated, and a particular of the ice bodies experts studied is thought 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 change, a researcher of the investigation said.

Ecological and Symbolic Consequences

“We’ll be the initial ones to see the ice-free peaks,” said the study's lead researcher, the study’s lead author. “This has environmental ramifications for flora and fauna. And it’s a representational decline. Climate change is very abstract, but these ice masses are concrete. They’re iconic features of the Western U.S..”