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Far in California’s Sierra Nevada, enormous ice formations are disappearing and projected to melt away completely by the beginning of the coming hundred years, resulting in ice-free peaks for the initial occasion in recorded human existence, new research has found.

Age-Old Origins of Sierra Nevada Ice Masses

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

“Our pieced-together ice age record indicates that a future glacier-free Sierra Nevada is unprecedented in human history since known settlement of the Americas around twenty thousand years ago,” the study states.

Worldwide Threat to Glaciers

Ice masses globally are under threat during the climate emergency. A study published in the month of May of this year determined that almost forty percent of glaciers are doomed to melt because of climate warming. If this warming rises by 2.7C, which the planet is presently on course for, as many as seventy-five percent will disappear, leading to sea level rise and large-scale relocation.

Across 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 Major Ice Bodies

The new research centers on several Sierra Nevada glacial masses – the Palisade, Lyell, Maclure and Conness glaciers – that are among the largest and likely oldest in the mountain chain. Their durability during climate warming makes them “indicators” for examining glacier disappearance in the west, the article states.

Research Methods and Findings

Scientists looked at newly uncovered bedrock around the glaciers and collected specimens to determine how extensively the area was blanketed by glacial ice. They found that the glaciers have covered large areas of the range for far longer than earlier believed – since before people inhabited North America.

California’s glacial sheets reached their peak extents as long ago as thirty thousand years ago, the study's researchers stated, and a particular of the glaciers experts studied is thought to have grown seven thousand years ago, sooner than once thought. The disappearance of glaciers, for the initial time in recorded history, demonstrates the profound impacts 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 ecological implications for flora and fauna. And it’s a symbolic loss. Global warming is highly intangible, but these ice masses are concrete. They’re iconic features of the Western U.S..”