A stacked aeolian sequence with intercalated soils is presented from the southern Netherlands, which fully covers the Late Weichselian and Holocene periods. An integrated sedimentological (sedimentary structures, grain size), palynological (pollen) and dating approach (radiocarbon, optically stimulated luminescence (OSL)) was applied to unravel climatic and human forcing factors. The dating results of soils and sediments are compatible, and no large hiatuses between the radiocarbon-dated top of the soils and OSL-dated overlying sands were observed. It is argued that the peaty top of wet-type podzols can be used for reliable radiocarbon dating. This study reveals more phases than previously known of landscape stability (Usselo Soil and two podzol soils) and instability (Younger Coversand I and II, two drift-sand units) that are related to Late Weichselian climate change and Holocene human occupation. Regional aeolian deposition in source-bordering (river) dunes (Younger Coversand II) took place in the second part of the Younger Dryas, after 12.3 ka cal. BP, implying a delayed response to Younger Dryas cooling, vegetation cover decline and river pattern change of the Scheldt. The onset of podzolisation and development of ericaceous vegetation occurred prior to the introduction of Neolithic farming, which is earlier than previously assumed. Early podzolisation was followed by a short phase of local drift-sand deposition, atc.5500 cal. BP, that possibly relates to agriculture. Strong human impact on the landscape by deforestation and agriculture resulted in a second phase of widespread drift-sand deposition covering the younger podzol soil after AD 1000.

External impact on the development of fluvial systems is generally exerted by changes in sea level, climate and tectonic movements. In this study, it is shown that a regional to local differentiation of fluvial response may be caused by semi-direct effects of climate change and tectonic movement; for example, vegetation cover, frozen soil, snow cover and longitudinal gradient. Such semi-direct effects may be responsible for specific fluvial activity resulting in specific drainage patterns, sedimentation series and erosion–accumulation rates. These conclusions are exemplified by the study of the fluvial archives of the Tis(z)a catchment in the Pannonian Basin in Hungary and Serbia from the middle of the last glacial to the Pleistocene–Holocene transition. Previous investigations in that catchment are supplemented here by new geomorphological–sedimentological data and OSL-dating. Specific characteristics of this catchment in comparison with other regions are the preponderance of meandering systems during the last glacial and the presence of very large meanders in given time intervals.

The fluvial development of the Roer river in the southeastern Netherlands and western Germany is presented for the Late Pleniglacial, Late-glacial and Early Holocene periods. Reconstruction of fluvial-style changes is based on geomorphological and sedimentological analysis. Time control comes from correlation to the pollen-based biochronostratigraphic framework of the Netherlands combined with independent optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) ages. At the Pleniglacial to Late-glacial transition a system and channel pattern change occurred from an aggrading braided to an incising meandering system. Rapid rates of meander migration, as established for the Late-glacial by optical dating, were likely related to the sandy nature of the substratum and the Late-glacial incision of the Meuse that resulted in a higher river gradient in the downstream part of the Roer. In the Roer valley the Younger Dryas cooling is not clearly reflected by a fluvial system response, but this may also be related to Holocene erosion of Younger Dryas fluvial forms. An important incision and terrace formation was established at the Younger Dryas to Early Holocene transition, probably related to forest recovery, reduced sediment supply and base-level lowering of the Meuse. The results of this study show a stepwise reduction in the number of channel courses from a multi-channel braided system in the Pleniglacial, to a double meander-belt system in the Late-glacial and a single-channel meandering system in the Early Holocene. The results show that the forcing factors of fluvial-system change in the Roer valley are climate change (precipitation, permafrost and vegetation) and downstream base-level control by the Meuse.

The lithostratigraphy, age and human occupation of the Late Glacial and Holocene aeolian succession of a Late Palaeolithic Ahrensburg site in the excavation Geldrop-A2 (municipality of Heeze-Leende) have been investigated. The exposure revealed a stacked sequence of aeolian sand units and intercalated soils (Older Coversand II, Younger Coversand I (YCI), Usselo Soil, Younger Coversand II (YCII), Holocene podzol, drift sand). Fourteen optically stimulated luminescence dates on quartz and three radiocarbon dates provide the age control of the aeolian deposition (coversands, drift sand), landscape stability (soils) and human occupation. The upper part of the YCI unit was dated to the early Late Glacial. The well-developed Usselo Soil was formed during a phase of landscape stability during the late Allerød interstadial and onset of the Younger Dryas stadial. During the Younger Dryas, low aeolian dunes were formed locally (YCII), as a response to landscape instability due to cooling and vegetation decline. In the fine-grained lower part of the YCII unit an initial soil testifies to a decadal to centennial period of landscape stability. An Ahrensburg site in the upper part of this initial soil was dated at 10,915±35 BP (c. 12,854–12,789 cal BP). The lithostratigraphic position, radiocarbon dates of the underlying Usselo Soil and a possibly old-wood effect of up to 200 years suggest that Ahrensburg occupation of the dune environment occurred during the early Younger Dryas, shortly afterc. 10,750 BP (12,750 cal BP). Landscape stability and podzol soil formation dominated the early and middle Holocene periods. Drift-sand deposition, probably related to human land use and vegetation decline, occurred in a 200-year period from the 16th to the 18th centuries.