From the onset of northern - hemisphere glaciation (
about 3 million years ago) to the «mid-Pleistocene transition» (
about 800,000 years ago), glacial advance and retreat follows a strong 41,000 - year cycle, which has led to its being called «the 41 ky world» (Raymo & Nisancioglu 2003,
Paleoceanography, 18, 1011).