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Deep in the state of Sierra mountain range, massive ice formations are vanishing and projected to melt away entirely by the beginning of the coming hundred years, leaving ice-free peaks for the first time in recorded human existence, recent studies has found.

Age-Old Origins of Sierra Nevada Ice Masses

The mountain range’s ice sheets are older than earlier understood, tracing back many 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 coming ice-free Sierra Nevada is unprecedented in human history since documented peopling of the Americas ~20,000 years ago,” the article declares.

Worldwide Risk to Ice Formations

Glaciers globally are at risk amid the climate emergency. A study released in May of this year found that nearly 40% of glaciers are doomed to thaw because of climate warming. If this warming rises by 2.7C, which the planet is currently on track for, as many as 75% will vanish, leading to sea level rise and mass displacement.

Across the Western United States, glaciers have shrunk substantially since they were initially recorded in the 1800s, according to the report.

Concentration on Key Glaciers

The new research focuses on four Sierra Nevada glaciers – the Palisade, Lyell, Maclure and Conness glaciers – that are among the biggest and probably most ancient in the range. Their longevity during climate warming makes them “bellwethers” for studying glacier disappearance in the west, the article states.

Research Methods and Findings

Scientists examined recently exposed base rock around the ice formations and took samples to determine how long the region was covered by ice. They determined that the ice masses have enveloped swaths of the mountain system for much longer than previously known – since before humans inhabited North America.

The state's glaciers reached their maximum positions as early as thirty thousand years ago, the study's researchers stated, and one of the glaciers experts looked at is thought to have expanded seven thousand years ago, sooner than previously believed. The loss of ice formations, for the first time in recorded history, demonstrates the dramatic effects of the climate change, a researcher of the investigation said.

Ecological and Representational Consequences

“We’ll be the initial ones to witness the glacier-less summits,” said the study's lead researcher, the study’s lead author. “This has ecological implications for plants and animals. And it’s a representational decline. Global warming is highly intangible, but these glaciers are tangible. They’re symbolic elements of the Western U.S..”