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Deep in California’s Sierra mountain range, massive ice formations are disappearing and expected to dissolve completely by the start of the coming hundred years, leaving summits without glaciers for the first time in human history, new research has found.

Age-Old Origins of Sierra Nevada Ice Masses

The mountain range’s ice sheets are older than earlier understood, dating back tens of thousands of years, with a few as old as the most recent glacial period, according to a report released recently.

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

Worldwide Threat to Ice Formations

Ice masses around the world are at risk during the climate crisis. A study published in the month of May of this year determined that almost forty percent of ice sheets are doomed to melt because of global heating. If this warming increases by 2.7C, which the planet is currently on track for, as many as 75% will vanish, leading to sea level rise and large-scale relocation.

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

Concentration on Major Glaciers

The recent study centers on four Sierra Nevada glaciers – the Conness, Maclure, Lyell and Palisade ice sheets – that are some of the largest and likely oldest in the range. Their longevity during climate warming makes them “bellwethers” for studying glacier disappearance in the western region, the study notes.

Study Techniques and Findings

Scientists looked at newly uncovered bedrock around the glaciers and took samples to ascertain how long the region was blanketed by glacial ice. They found that the ice masses have covered large areas of the range for much longer than earlier believed – since prior to people inhabited North America.

The state's glaciers reached their peak extents as early as thirty thousand years ago, the study's researchers wrote, and a particular of the ice bodies researchers studied is believed to have expanded seven thousand years ago, earlier than previously believed. The disappearance of ice formations, for the initial time in recorded history, shows the profound impacts of the climate crisis, one author of the study said.

Environmental 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 flora and fauna. And it’s a representational decline. Global warming is highly intangible, but these ice masses are tangible. They’re iconic features of the American West.”