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Deep in the state of Sierra Nevada, massive ice formations are vanishing and expected to melt away completely by the start of the next century, resulting in ice-free peaks for the first time in human history, new research has found.

Age-Old Beginnings of Sierra Range Glaciers

The mountain range’s ice sheets are more ancient than earlier understood, tracing back many thousands of years, with a few as ancient as the most recent glacial period, according to a report released last week.

“Our pieced-together glacial history indicates that a future ice-free Sierra Nevada is unprecedented in the history of humankind since documented settlement of the Americas around twenty thousand years ago,” the study states.

Worldwide Threat to Glaciers

Glaciers around the world are at risk during the climate crisis. A study published in the month of May of the current year found that nearly 40% of glaciers are doomed to melt because of global heating. If such heating increases by 2.7 degrees Celsius, which the planet is presently on course for, as up to seventy-five percent will disappear, causing ocean level increase and large-scale relocation.

Throughout the American west, ice formations have shrunk substantially since they were first documented in the 1800s, according to the report.

Focus on Key Glaciers

The recent study focuses on several Sierra Nevada glacial masses – the Conness, Maclure, Lyell and Palisade ice sheets – that are among the largest and likely most ancient in the range. Their durability during climate warming makes them “bellwethers” for examining glacier disappearance in the western region, the article states.

Study Techniques and Results

Researchers examined recently exposed base rock around the ice formations and collected specimens to determine how long the area was blanketed by ice. They determined that the glaciers have covered swaths of the mountain system for much longer than earlier believed – since before humans occupied North America.

The state's glaciers attained their peak extents as early as thirty thousand years ago, the study's researchers wrote, and one of the ice bodies experts studied is thought to have grown 7,000 years ago, earlier than once thought. The disappearance of glaciers, for the initial time in human history, demonstrates the dramatic impacts of the climate change, one author of the investigation said.

Ecological and Symbolic Impact

“We’ll be the initial ones to see the glacier-less summits,” said Andrew Jones, the study’s lead author. “This has ecological ramifications for plants and animals. And it’s a representational decline. Climate change is very abstract, but these glaciers are concrete. They’re iconic features of the American West.”