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Deep in California’s Sierra mountain range, massive ice formations are vanishing and projected to dissolve entirely by the start of the next century, resulting in summits without glaciers for the initial occasion in human history, recent studies has discovered.

Age-Old Origins of Sierra Nevada Ice Masses

The range's glaciers are older than previously known, dating back many thousands of years, with a few as old as the last ice age, according to an article published recently.

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

Worldwide Threat to Ice Formations

Glaciers globally are under threat amid the climate emergency. A research released in May of the current year determined that almost forty percent of glaciers are destined to melt because of climate warming. If this warming rises by 2.7 degrees Celsius, which the planet is currently on course for, as many as seventy-five percent will vanish, leading to ocean level increase and mass displacement.

Throughout the American west, glaciers have diminished substantially since they were initially recorded in the late 19th century, according to the article.

Focus on Major Ice Bodies

The new research focuses on several Sierra Nevada glaciers – the Palisade, Lyell, Maclure and Conness ice sheets – that are among the biggest and likely oldest in the mountain chain. Their longevity amid climate warming makes them “indicators” for studying ice loss in the west, the article states.

Study Techniques and Findings

Researchers examined recently exposed base rock around the ice formations and collected specimens to ascertain how extensively the region was covered by glacial ice. They found that the glaciers have covered swaths of the mountain system for far longer than previously known – since prior to people occupied North America.

California’s glaciers attained their peak extents as long ago as 30,000 years ago, the study's researchers wrote, and one of the glaciers researchers looked at is believed to have grown seven thousand years ago, sooner than once thought. The disappearance of ice formations, for the initial time in human history, demonstrates the dramatic effects of the climate crisis, a researcher of the investigation said.

Ecological and Representational Consequences

“We’ll be the initial ones to see the glacier-less summits,” said Andrew Jones, the study’s lead author. “This has environmental ramifications for plants and animals. And it’s a representational decline. Climate change is very abstract, but these glaciers are tangible. They’re iconic features of the American West.”