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Far in the state of Sierra mountain range, enormous glaciers are vanishing and expected to melt away completely by the start of the coming hundred years, resulting in summits without glaciers for the first time in human history, new research has found.

Ancient Origins of Sierra Nevada Ice Masses

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

“Our reconstructed ice age record indicates that a future glacier-free Sierra Nevada is without precedent in the history of humankind since documented settlement of the Americas around twenty thousand years ago,” the study declares.

Global Risk to Glaciers

Glaciers around the world are under threat during the climate crisis. A research published in May of the current year found that nearly 40% of glaciers are destined to melt because of global heating. If this warming rises by 2.7 degrees Celsius, which the planet is currently on track for, as up to 75% will disappear, causing ocean level increase and mass displacement.

Across the Western United States, ice formations have diminished significantly since they were initially recorded in the 1800s, according to the report.

Concentration on Key Glaciers

The recent study centers on several Sierra Nevada glacial masses – the Conness, Maclure, Lyell and Palisade glaciers – that are some of the biggest and likely most ancient in the mountain chain. Their durability amid global heating makes them “bellwethers” for examining ice loss in the western region, the article notes.

Research Methods and Results

Researchers looked at recently exposed bedrock around the ice formations and took samples to determine how long the region was covered by glacial ice. They determined that the glaciers have enveloped large areas of the mountain system for far longer than previously known – since before humans inhabited North America.

The state's glaciers attained their maximum positions as early as 30,000 years ago, the article’s authors stated, and one of the ice bodies experts studied is believed to have grown 7,000 years ago, earlier than previously believed. The disappearance of ice formations, for the initial time in recorded history, demonstrates the profound impacts of the climate crisis, a researcher of the study said.

Environmental 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 implications for flora and fauna. And it’s a representational decline. Global warming is very abstract, but these ice masses are concrete. They’re symbolic elements of the Western U.S..”