🔗 Share this article

Far in the state of Sierra mountain range, massive ice formations are disappearing and expected to melt away completely by the start of the coming hundred years, resulting in ice-free peaks for the initial occasion in human history, recent studies has discovered.

Age-Old Origins of Sierra Range Glaciers

The range's ice sheets are older than earlier understood, dating back many thousands of years, with some as ancient as the most recent glacial period, according to a report published last week.

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

Global Threat to Ice Formations

Glaciers around the world are at risk amid the climate crisis. A research released in May of this year determined that nearly 40% of glaciers are doomed to thaw because of climate warming. If such heating increases by 2.7C, which the planet is presently on track for, as many as 75% will disappear, leading to sea level rise and mass displacement.

Throughout the Western United States, glaciers have diminished significantly since they were first documented in the 1800s, according to the article.

Focus on Key Glaciers

The new research centers on several Sierra Nevada glaciers – the Palisade, Lyell, Maclure and Conness glaciers – that are some of the biggest and likely oldest in the range. Their longevity amid climate warming makes them “indicators” for studying glacier disappearance in the western region, the study states.

Research Methods and Results

Researchers examined newly uncovered base rock around the glaciers and collected specimens to determine how long the area was blanketed by glacial ice. They determined that the ice masses have covered large areas of the range for far longer than previously known – since prior to people inhabited North America.

The state's glaciers attained their peak extents as long ago as 30,000 years ago, the article’s authors wrote, and a particular of the ice bodies researchers studied is believed to have grown 7,000 years ago, sooner than once thought. The loss of ice formations, for the initial time in human history, demonstrates the dramatic effects of the climate change, one author of the study said.

Ecological and Symbolic Consequences

“We’ll be the first to witness the ice-free peaks,” said Andrew Jones, the study’s lead author. “This has environmental ramifications for flora and fauna. And it’s a representational decline. Global warming is very abstract, but these glaciers are concrete. They’re iconic features of the American West.”