[3][2] Büdel studied both cold-climate processes in Svalbard and "tropical" weathering processes in India to understand the origin of the relief of Central Europe, which he argued was a palimpsest of landforms formed at different times and under different climates.
[2] For Central Europe Büdel concluded that in Late Cretaceous to Early Pliocene times etchplains formed.
Then in Late Pliocene to Early Pleistocene times a transition period occurred in landscape forming processes.
Finally in the Late Pleistocene periglaciation and deep permafrost made Central Europe a place of "excessive valley cutting".
Holocene developments would not have affected much of the landscape other than adding a deep soil cover.