The formation of tunnel valleys and other subglacial erosional landforms is among the deepest-reaching erosional processes. Such deep erosion during potential future ice ages could seriously affect the integrity of the geological barrier of a radioactive waste repository. This special issue aims to collect studies on all aspects of subglacial erosion and its treatment with regard to site selection and the long-term safety of radioactive waste repositories.

The study of past environmental changes and their effects on cultures provides key information to reconstruct human–environmental interactions and model how climate change affects cultures and possible avenues of future adaptation. The Shiraki Plain is an uninhabited plain largely devoid of water resources. However, traces of extensive Bronze Age civilization with complex social organization were revealed, featuring the typology of settlements, their ages, and spatial planning.

The chronostratigraphy of the Rhine’s main terrace along the Middle Rhine Valley (MRV) is poorly constrained. This study fills this gap by using electron spin resonance (ESR) dating of quartz grains collected from the famous Kärlich site. Consistent ESR results date this terrace to ~1.5 Ma and have far-reaching implications as they numerically constrain, for the first time, the aggradation time of key terrace deposits along the MRV, providing new insights into the Rhine’s Quaternary evolution.

There is an ongoing dispute between those who believe that the bluestones at Stonehenge were (a) transported by humans or (b) glacially transported erratics. An igneous boulder found at Stonehenge in 1924 and then lost for over 90 years has been found in Salisbury Museum. Its shape and surface characteristics suggest that it was carried from West Wales by the Irish Sea Ice Stream. The author proposes that most if not all of the 43 bluestone monoliths are glacial erratics.