The Andes mountain glaciers are most likely at their lowest point in at least 130,000 years, according to research done on rocks revealed by ice melting.

The University of California, Berkeley's Andrew Gorin stated that they were, quite honestly, startled by this. He continued by saying that he believed this to be unmistakable proof that at least one place on Earth has now left the friendly climate conditions that have supported the rise of human civilization.

Because the Andes mountain range is so high up, many locations—even tropical ones—have permanent glaciers. Actually, the Andes are home to practically all of the world's tropical glaciers. These glaciers are receding and weakening due to global warming, as has been evident for decades. It's unclear, though, how this relates to events that occurred in the more distant past.

Twenty rock samples that were recently revealed as a result of four tropical glaciers in the Andes retreating have been examined by Gorin and his colleagues. They searched for carbon and beryllium isotopes, which are created when cosmic rays strike exposed rock and can indicate when a glacier last receded beyond a particular point.

Similar research conducted in the world's northern regions has revealed that those areas' glaciers peaked a few thousand years ago, or roughly in the middle of the current interglacial period. According to Gorin, this is because shifts in Earth's orbit have caused more winter daylight to reach northern regions, which has led to the retreat of glaciers.

Although the mid-interglacial shrinkage of northern glaciers was a regional phenomenon rather than a global one, the researchers anticipated that the Andes would exhibit a similar phenomenon at that time. Rather, the isotypes they discovered were present at such low levels as to be essentially invisible.

This raises red flags. Gorin claims that it's the proverbial "canary in the coal mine" for alpine glaciers globally.