LAUSR

Abstract Understanding the evolution of the Holocene East Asian summer monsoon (EASM) and vegetation response regimes can help predict the climatic variability and vegetation change of future warming. Here, we reconstructed Holocene vegetation and climate change based on pollen, grain size and percent organic matter from a lake sediment profile in Huitengxile Plateau of central Inner Mongolia, northern China. We found that temperate deciduous forest steppe and temperate mixed forest steppe prevailed under maximum EASM during the middle Holocene (~8.3–5.9 cal. kyr BP), with more open vegetation and a weak EASM prior to and following this period. The vegetation succession is consistent with regional records, suggesting a regional vegetation pattern, i.e., oak forest replacing birch and elm forest during the middle Holocene and pine forest expanding at the expense of birch and oak forest since ~6.0 cal. kyr BP. A regional synthesis suggests the maximum EASM began at 8.3–7.8 cal. kyr BP in northern China, indicating a significant delay when compared with published records from southern China. The maximum EASM in northern China ended at 5.9–5.5 cal. kyr BP, being similar or slightly delayed from that in southern China.