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Far in California’s Sierra mountain range, massive ice formations are vanishing and expected to melt away entirely by the beginning of the coming hundred years, leaving ice-free peaks for the initial occasion in recorded human existence, recent studies has discovered.

Age-Old Origins of Sierra Range Ice Masses

The mountain range’s glaciers are more ancient than earlier understood, tracing back many thousands of years, with a few as ancient as the last ice age, according to a report published last week.

“Our pieced-together glacial history indicates that a coming glacier-free Sierra Nevada is without precedent in the history of humankind since documented settlement of the Americas ~20,000 years ago,” the article states.

Global Threat to Ice Formations

Glaciers globally are at risk amid the climate emergency. A research published in May of this year determined that almost forty percent of glaciers are doomed to melt because of climate warming. If this warming rises by 2.7C, which the planet is currently on track for, as many as seventy-five percent will vanish, causing sea level rise and mass displacement.

Throughout the American west, glaciers have diminished substantially since they were initially recorded in the 1800s, according to the article.

Focus on Major Ice Bodies

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

Study Techniques and Results

Scientists examined newly uncovered base rock around the ice formations and took samples to ascertain how extensively the area was covered by glacial ice. They found that the glaciers have enveloped large areas of the range for much longer than earlier believed – since before people inhabited North America.

The state's glaciers reached their peak extents as long ago as thirty thousand years ago, the article’s authors stated, and a particular of the glaciers experts studied is thought to have grown seven thousand years ago, earlier than once thought. The disappearance of ice formations, for the initial time in human history, demonstrates the profound effects of the climate change, a researcher of the study said.

Ecological and Representational Consequences

“We’ll be the first to see the glacier-less summits,” said the study's lead researcher, 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 tangible. They’re iconic features of the Western U.S..”