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Deep in California’s Sierra mountain range, enormous glaciers are vanishing and expected to melt away completely by the start of the coming hundred years, resulting in ice-free peaks for the initial occasion in recorded human existence, recent studies has found.

Age-Old Origins of Sierra Nevada Ice Masses

The range's glaciers are more ancient than previously known, tracing back many thousands of years, with some as old as the most recent glacial period, according to an article published last week.

“Our reconstructed ice age record shows that a coming ice-free Sierra Nevada is unprecedented in the history of humankind since documented peopling of the Americas ~20,000 years ago,” the study states.

Global Risk to Ice Formations

Glaciers around the world are at risk during the climate emergency. A research published in May of the current year found that nearly 40% of ice sheets are destined to melt because of global heating. If this warming rises by 2.7C, which the planet is presently on track for, as many as seventy-five percent will disappear, causing ocean level increase and mass displacement.

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

Focus on Key Ice Bodies

The recent study focuses on four Sierra Nevada glaciers – the Palisade, Lyell, Maclure and Conness glaciers – that are among the largest and likely most ancient in the range. Their longevity during global heating makes them “bellwethers” for studying glacier disappearance in the western region, the article states.

Study Techniques and Findings

Scientists examined newly uncovered bedrock around the glaciers and took samples to determine how extensively the region was blanketed by ice. They determined that the glaciers have enveloped swaths of the range for far longer than previously known – since before people inhabited North America.

California’s glacial sheets reached their peak extents as early as 30,000 years ago, the article’s authors wrote, and a particular of the glaciers experts studied is thought to have expanded 7,000 years ago, earlier than previously believed. The disappearance of ice formations, for the initial time in human history, demonstrates the dramatic impacts of the climate change, one author of the study said.

Ecological and Symbolic Impact

“We’ll be the initial ones to see the glacier-less summits,” said Andrew Jones, the principal investigator. “This has environmental ramifications for plants and animals. And it’s a representational decline. Global warming is highly intangible, but these ice masses are concrete. They’re symbolic elements of the Western U.S..”