Miocene woods from the Qaidam Basin on northern Qinghai-Tibet Plateau with implications for paleoenvironmental change

•Massive fossil woods imply forests in north Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau late Miocene.•Three taxa were identified first time in this area based on anatomical characters.•There used to be temperate forest with grass in northern plateau in late Miocene.•ASM supported the Miocene forest steppe due to an open route in the southern part.