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Far in California’s Sierra Nevada, massive glaciers are vanishing and expected to melt away completely by the beginning of the coming hundred years, leaving summits without glaciers for the initial occasion in recorded human existence, new research has found.

Age-Old Origins of Sierra Nevada Ice Masses

The mountain range’s ice sheets are older than previously known, tracing back many thousands of years, with a few as ancient 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 without precedent in human history since documented peopling of the Americas ~20,000 years ago,” the article declares.

Worldwide Threat to Ice Formations

Ice masses globally are at risk amid the climate emergency. A research published in May of this year found that almost forty percent of ice sheets are doomed to thaw because of global heating. If such heating rises by 2.7 degrees Celsius, which the world is presently on course for, as up to 75% will disappear, causing sea level rise and large-scale relocation.

Across the Western United States, ice formations have diminished significantly since they were initially recorded in the 1800s, according to the report.

Focus on Major Glaciers

The new research centers on four Sierra Nevada glacial masses – the Palisade, Lyell, Maclure and Conness ice sheets – that are some of the biggest and probably most ancient in the range. Their longevity amid climate warming makes them “indicators” for examining glacier disappearance in the western region, the study states.

Research Methods and Findings

Researchers looked at recently exposed base rock around the glaciers and took samples to ascertain how extensively the region was blanketed by ice. They found that the glaciers have covered large areas of the range for much longer than previously known – since before humans inhabited North America.

The state's glacial sheets attained their peak extents as long ago as thirty thousand years ago, the article’s authors stated, and a particular of the glaciers experts studied is thought to have grown seven thousand years ago, earlier than previously believed. The loss of ice formations, for the initial time in human history, shows the dramatic impacts of the climate change, one author of the investigation said.

Environmental and Representational Consequences

“We’ll be the initial ones to witness the ice-free peaks,” said the study's lead researcher, 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 glaciers are tangible. They’re iconic features of the Western U.S..”