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Deep in the state of Sierra Nevada, massive glaciers are disappearing and projected to dissolve entirely by the start of the next century, leaving summits without glaciers for the initial occasion in recorded human existence, recent studies has discovered.

Age-Old Origins of Sierra Range Ice Masses

The mountain range’s ice sheets are more ancient than earlier understood, dating back many thousands of years, with some as old as the last ice age, according to an article released recently.

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

Global Risk to Ice Formations

Glaciers globally are at risk during the climate crisis. A research published in the month of May of the current year determined that nearly 40% of glaciers are doomed to melt because of global heating. If such heating increases by 2.7C, which the world is currently on course for, as many as seventy-five percent will disappear, leading to sea level rise and mass displacement.

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

Focus on Major Ice Bodies

The recent study centers 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 “indicators” for examining ice loss in the west, the article notes.

Study Techniques and Results

Researchers looked at recently exposed bedrock around the ice formations and collected specimens to determine how long the area was covered by glacial ice. They determined that the ice masses have enveloped swaths of the range for much longer than earlier believed – since prior to people inhabited North America.

California’s glaciers reached their peak extents as long ago as thirty thousand years ago, the study's researchers wrote, and one of the ice bodies experts studied is thought to have grown seven thousand years ago, sooner than once thought. The disappearance of glaciers, for the first time in recorded history, demonstrates the dramatic effects of the climate crisis, one author of the study said.

Ecological and Symbolic Consequences

“We’ll be the first to see the glacier-less summits,” said the study's lead researcher, the study’s lead author. “This has environmental implications for flora and fauna. And it’s a symbolic loss. Global warming is very abstract, but these glaciers are concrete. They’re symbolic elements of the American West.”