🔗 Share this article Glacier Melt Will Lead to Glacier-Less Peaks in the Golden State for First Instance in Human History Deep in the state of Sierra Nevada, enormous glaciers are vanishing and projected to melt away completely by the start of the next century, resulting in summits without glaciers for the initial occasion in human history, new research has discovered. Ancient Origins of Sierra Nevada Glaciers The range's glaciers are more ancient than earlier understood, dating back many thousands of years, with a few as old as the last ice age, according to an article published recently. “Our reconstructed glacial history shows that a future glacier-free Sierra Nevada is unprecedented in human history since documented peopling of the Americas ~20,000 years ago,” the study declares. Worldwide Threat to Glaciers Ice masses globally are under threat amid the climate emergency. A research published in May of this year determined that almost forty percent of glaciers are destined to melt because of global heating. If this warming increases by 2.7C, which the planet is presently on course for, as many as 75% will disappear, causing ocean level increase and mass displacement. Across the American west, glaciers have shrunk significantly since they were first documented in the late 19th century, according to the article. Concentration on Key Glaciers The new research centers on four Sierra Nevada glacial masses – the Palisade, Lyell, Maclure and Conness glaciers – that are among the biggest and likely most ancient in the range. Their longevity during climate warming makes them “bellwethers” for examining ice loss in the western region, the article states. Study Techniques and Results Scientists looked at recently exposed base rock around the ice formations and collected specimens to ascertain how long the region was blanketed by ice. They determined that the ice masses have covered large areas of the range for much longer than earlier believed – since prior to people occupied North America. The state's glacial sheets attained their maximum positions as early as thirty thousand years ago, the study's researchers stated, and one of the ice bodies researchers looked at is believed to have grown 7,000 years ago, earlier than once thought. The disappearance of ice formations, for the initial time in human history, demonstrates the profound impacts of the climate crisis, one author of the investigation said. Environmental and Representational Impact “We’ll be the first to witness the glacier-less summits,” said Andrew Jones, the study’s lead author. “This has ecological implications for flora and fauna. And it’s a representational decline. Climate change is very abstract, but these glaciers are tangible. They’re symbolic elements of the American West.”