The Mühlbach series has been given as evidence for a Late Pliocene/Early Pleistocene Aare–Rhine fluvial system in northern Switzerland and southwest Germany. We show that these deposits represent a variety of different units. At the type location, luminescence dating indicates an age of 55 ka, and we interpret the deposits as slope reworking. Beside methodological implications, our studies recommend caution regarding the interpretation of stratigraphic units for which limited data are available.

We determined ¹⁰Be concentrations in moraine boulder surfaces in the southern Black Forest, SW Germany. We applied three independent dating methods to younger lake sediments. With the aid of independent age datasets, we calculated the growth of ¹⁰Be concentrations in moraine boulder surfaces.

This study aims to reconstruct the last glaciation of the southern Black Forest. Ice-marginal positions in this region were, for the first time, directly dated. Glacier retreat from the last glaciation maximum position was probably underway no later than 21 ka. Re-advances and/or standstills of glaciers (no later than 17–16 ka, 15–14 ka and 13 ka) punctuated the subsequent trend towards ice-free conditions.

If topographical obstructions are present in the surroundings of sampling sites, exposure ages of rock surfaces need to be corrected. A toolbox for the ESRI ArcGIS software allows for quantifying topographic shielding with a digital elevation model, but it has only been validated with few field data. In this study, the output of the toolbox is evaluated with a more extensive dataset. If suitable elevation data are chosen, the toolbox provides a sound approach to determine topographic shielding.

The Black Forest was covered by a 1000 km² large ice cap during the last glaciation. Glacial landforms in the area north-west of the highest summit of the Black Forest, the Feldberg (1493 m above sea level), were investigated to select suitable sampling sites for dating glacial landforms in future studies. Some of the terminal moraines described in this study are mapped for the first time. The application of dating methods will provide insights into the chronology of the last glaciation.