The historical Lake Lorsch in the Upper Rhine Graben (Germany) is a good example of how humans have changed the fluvial and hydrological systems in the area for at least 500 years. Interdisciplinary research from geomorphology and historical sciences have reconstructed the history based on old maps, digital elevation models and drillings. The results show a sophisticated system of artificial in- and outflows, which partly still exist today, and represent long-term changes in the Weschnitz floodplain.

This study presents cosmogenic ¹⁰Be-derived denudation rates from the Roda Catchment, central Germany. Denudation rates in Europe are generally higher than in other regions globally, indicating the influence of periglacial dynamics on denudation. Short-term erosion rates are lower than long-term denudation rates, despite intensive recent human activity. Differences between local and catchment-wide denudation imply a relief change of 0–28 mm kyr^‒1 in the Roda Catchment over the past 10 ka.

The marshy, silted-up channel of the Late Glacial Bergstraßenneckar near Mannheim provided a rare source of clay in the sand- and gravel-dominated environment of the Rhine river. Based on satellite images, sedimentological, geophysical, and historical data, as well as optical dating, we identify a plot of sand-filled trenches where clay was mined around 1865 CE, which was only possible after groundwater lowering resulting from large-scale river regulation starting in the early 19^th century.

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.

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.