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Deep in California’s Sierra mountain range, enormous glaciers are vanishing and expected to melt away completely by the start of the coming hundred years, leaving summits without glaciers for the initial occasion in human history, recent studies has discovered.

Age-Old Origins of Sierra Range Ice Masses

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

“Our pieced-together ice age record shows that a coming glacier-free Sierra Nevada is unprecedented in the history of humankind since known peopling of the Americas ~20,000 years ago,” the study states.

Global Risk to Ice Formations

Glaciers globally are at risk during the climate crisis. A research released in the month of May of the current year found that almost forty percent of ice sheets are destined to melt because of climate warming. If this warming rises by 2.7C, which the world is currently on course for, as up to seventy-five percent will vanish, causing ocean level increase and large-scale relocation.

Across the American west, glaciers have shrunk substantially since they were first documented in the late 19th century, according to the report.

Concentration on Key Ice Bodies

The recent study focuses on several Sierra Nevada glaciers – the Palisade, Lyell, Maclure and Conness glaciers – that are some of the largest and probably most ancient in the mountain chain. Their durability amid climate warming makes them “bellwethers” for studying ice loss in the western region, the article notes.

Study Techniques and Findings

Scientists examined recently exposed bedrock around the ice formations and took samples to ascertain how extensively the region was blanketed by ice. They found that the ice masses have enveloped large areas of the range for far longer than previously known – since prior to people inhabited North America.

The state's glaciers reached their peak extents as early as thirty thousand years ago, the article’s authors stated, and a particular of the ice bodies experts looked at is believed to have grown 7,000 years ago, sooner than once thought. The disappearance of glaciers, for the initial time in human history, demonstrates the dramatic impacts of the climate crisis, one author of the study said.

Environmental and Symbolic Consequences

“We’ll be the first to see the ice-free peaks,” said the study's lead researcher, the study’s lead author. “This has ecological implications for flora and fauna. And it’s a symbolic loss. Global warming is highly intangible, but these ice masses are concrete. They’re symbolic elements of the American West.”