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Far in the state of Sierra mountain range, massive ice formations are vanishing and projected to dissolve entirely by the start of the coming hundred years, resulting in summits without glaciers for the initial occasion in recorded human existence, recent studies has discovered.

Age-Old Beginnings of Sierra Range Ice Masses

The range's ice sheets are more ancient than previously known, tracing back many thousands of years, with some as ancient as the most recent glacial period, according to a report published recently.

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

Global Risk to Glaciers

Ice masses around the world are under threat amid the climate crisis. A study published in May of the current year found that nearly 40% of ice sheets are doomed to melt because of global heating. If such heating rises by 2.7 degrees Celsius, which the world is currently on track for, as many as seventy-five percent will disappear, causing sea level rise and large-scale relocation.

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

Concentration on Major Glaciers

The new research focuses on four Sierra Nevada glaciers – the Palisade, Lyell, Maclure and Conness glaciers – that are among the biggest and probably oldest in the mountain chain. Their durability during climate warming makes them “indicators” for examining ice loss in the west, the article states.

Study Techniques and Findings

Researchers looked at newly uncovered base rock around the ice formations and collected specimens to ascertain how long the area was covered by glacial ice. They found that the glaciers have covered large areas of the range for far longer than earlier believed – since prior to humans occupied North America.

The state's glaciers reached their peak extents as early as thirty thousand years ago, the study's researchers stated, and one of the glaciers researchers studied is believed to have expanded seven thousand years ago, earlier 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.

Ecological and Symbolic Consequences

“We’ll be the first to see the glacier-less summits,” said Andrew Jones, the study’s lead author. “This has environmental implications for flora and fauna. And it’s a symbolic loss. Climate change is very abstract, but these glaciers are tangible. They’re symbolic elements of the American West.”