Depositional single-grain feldspar luminescence ages reveal the filling of a glacially overdeepened basin during Marine Isotope Stage 8, representing rare evidence of this time frame in the northern Alpine foreland. Reflection seismic surveys revealed two cross-cutting glacial basins. The dated sediments reveal significantly younger ages than previously assumed. This represents a first step in a re-evaluation of the established Quaternary depositional chronology of the Bavarian Alpine foreland.

This study explores past environments at a key archaeological site in Serbia to understand how climate and landscape influenced early human life. By analysing soil layers, fossils, and other natural markers, we found that the area offered a mix of habitats and stable conditions during the last ice age. These findings suggest that the region was an important refuge for people and animals, helping us to better understand human survival in changing climates.

This thesis abstract deals with strategies that have been developed to disentangle interfering geochemical signals in dust-based loess deposits, tested at the Schwalbenberg, Germany. Information on dust particle origin and that which has been obtained during their transport and post-depositional process make up the geochemical element composition. If this information can be decoded, loess deposits can be compared across continents, and the timing and nature of terrestrial system responses can be comprehended.

People have shaped rivers and floodplains in central Europe for thousands of years, but these changes are often hard to trace. We studied the Wiesent River in southern Germany to understand how farming, forest clearing, and river management transformed a natural wetland into a human-shaped landscape. By combining historical sources with field measurements and sediment samples, we show that human land use has strongly controlled floodplain development since medieval times.