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Deep in California’s Sierra mountain range, enormous glaciers are disappearing and projected to melt away entirely by the start of the next century, leaving summits without glaciers for the initial occasion in human history, recent studies has found.

Age-Old Beginnings of Sierra Nevada Ice Masses

The mountain range’s glaciers are more ancient than previously known, tracing back tens of thousands of years, with some as ancient as the last ice age, according to an article published last week.

“Our pieced-together glacial history indicates that a coming glacier-free Sierra Nevada is unprecedented in the history of humankind since known peopling of the Americas around twenty thousand years ago,” the study declares.

Worldwide Threat to Ice Formations

Ice masses around the world are at risk amid the climate crisis. A study released in May of this year found that almost forty percent of ice sheets are doomed to melt because of global heating. If such heating increases by 2.7 degrees Celsius, which the planet is currently on track for, as many as 75% will disappear, leading to sea level rise and mass displacement.

Across the Western United States, ice formations have diminished significantly since they were initially recorded in the late 19th century, according to the article.

Concentration on Key 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 probably oldest in the range. Their durability during climate warming makes them “bellwethers” for studying glacier disappearance in the western region, the study notes.

Study Techniques and Findings

Researchers examined newly uncovered bedrock around the ice formations and collected specimens to ascertain how long the region 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.

The state's glaciers attained their peak extents as early as 30,000 years ago, the study's researchers wrote, and a particular of the glaciers researchers looked at is believed to have grown seven thousand years ago, earlier than previously believed. The disappearance of glaciers, for the first time in human history, shows the dramatic impacts of the climate crisis, one author of the investigation said.

Environmental and Representational Consequences

“We’ll be the first to see the ice-free peaks,” said Andrew Jones, the principal investigator. “This has ecological ramifications for plants and animals. And it’s a representational decline. Global warming is highly intangible, but these ice masses are concrete. They’re iconic features of the Western U.S..”