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Deep in California’s Sierra mountain range, massive ice formations are vanishing and projected to melt away entirely by the start of the next century, leaving ice-free peaks for the initial occasion in human history, new research has discovered.

Ancient Origins of Sierra Nevada Glaciers

The mountain range’s ice sheets are more ancient than earlier understood, dating back tens of thousands of years, with some as old as the last ice age, according to a report released last week.

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

Global Threat to Ice Formations

Glaciers around the world are at risk amid the climate emergency. A research released in the month of May of the current year determined that nearly 40% of glaciers are destined to thaw 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 mass displacement.

Throughout the American west, glaciers have shrunk significantly since they were first documented in the 1800s, according to the article.

Focus on Key Glaciers

The recent study centers on four Sierra Nevada glacial masses – the Palisade, Lyell, Maclure and Conness ice sheets – that are among the biggest and probably oldest in the mountain chain. Their longevity during climate warming makes them “bellwethers” for examining glacier disappearance in the west, the study notes.

Research Methods and Results

Researchers examined recently exposed bedrock around the ice formations and collected specimens to determine how extensively the area was blanketed by glacial ice. They determined that the ice masses have enveloped large areas of the range for far longer than previously known – since prior to humans inhabited North America.

The state's glaciers reached their maximum positions as early as thirty thousand years ago, the study's researchers wrote, and one of the glaciers researchers studied is thought to have grown 7,000 years ago, sooner than previously believed. The disappearance of glaciers, for the first time in human history, shows the profound impacts of the climate change, one author of the study said.

Ecological and Representational Impact

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