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Deep in the state of Sierra mountain range, enormous glaciers are disappearing and expected to dissolve completely by the beginning of the next century, leaving summits without glaciers for the initial occasion in human history, new research has found.

Age-Old Origins of Sierra Nevada Ice Masses

The range's ice sheets are older than previously known, tracing back tens of thousands of years, with a few as ancient as the last ice age, according to a report released last week.

“Our pieced-together glacial history indicates that a coming ice-free Sierra Nevada is unprecedented in human history since known peopling of the Americas around twenty thousand years ago,” the article states.

Worldwide Threat to Glaciers

Ice masses around the world are at risk amid the climate crisis. A study released in May of this year determined that almost forty percent of glaciers are destined to thaw because of global heating. If such heating rises by 2.7 degrees Celsius, which the world is presently on track for, as many as 75% will disappear, causing sea level rise and large-scale relocation.

Across the Western United States, glaciers have shrunk significantly since they were first documented in the 1800s, according to the article.

Concentration on Key Glaciers

The new research centers on four Sierra Nevada glaciers – the Palisade, Lyell, Maclure and Conness ice sheets – that are among the biggest and probably most ancient in the mountain chain. Their durability amid climate warming makes them “indicators” for studying glacier disappearance in the west, the article notes.

Study Techniques and Results

Researchers examined newly uncovered base rock around the ice formations and collected specimens to ascertain how extensively the area was covered by ice. They determined that the ice masses have enveloped swaths of the mountain system for far longer than previously known – since prior to people occupied North America.

California’s glacial sheets attained their maximum positions as long ago as 30,000 years ago, the study's researchers wrote, and a particular of the ice bodies researchers studied is thought to have expanded seven thousand years ago, sooner than previously believed. The loss of glaciers, for the initial time in recorded history, shows the profound impacts of the climate change, a researcher of the study said.

Ecological 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 environmental ramifications for plants and animals. And it’s a representational decline. Climate change is highly intangible, but these glaciers are concrete. They’re symbolic elements of the Western U.S..”