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Reconstructing the Cenozoic environmental history of Hetao Basin, in the northern part of the Ordos Plateau in North China, is important not only for revealing the evolution of the Yellow River, but also for understanding the formation of the Hobq Desert. Here we present the stratigraphic framework of drill core DRO1 with length of 2503.18 m, and the results of magnetostratigraphic and ESR dating and multi proxy analyses of drill core WEDP05 with length of 274.60 m, from the Hetao Basin. The magnetostratigraphic and ESR results indicate that core WEDP05 spans the last similar to 1.68 Ma. Stratigraphic sequence of core DRO1 indicates that the Hetao area was uplifted and eroded during the early Cenozoic, before subsiding to form a sedimentary basin. Subsequently, the basin was a fluvio-lacustrine environment during the Pliocene and then experienced alternating desert and fluvio-lacustrine conditions during the Quaternary. Sedimentary facies and multi environmental-proxy analyses of core WEDP05 indicate that the basin was occupied by a fluvio-lacustrine system during the following intervals; similar to 1.47 - similar to 1.30 Ma, similar to 1.17 - similar to 1.07 Ma, similar to 0.68 - similar to 0.60 Ma and from similar to 0.47 Ma to the last interglacial; and that a desert environment developed during the lake regression phases of similar to 1.30 - similar to 1.17 Ma, similar to 1.07 - similar to 0.68 Ma and similar to 0.60 - similar to 0.47 Ma. The presence of aeolian sand at the base of core WEDP05 suggests that the origin of the Hobq Desert can be traced back to the early Pleistocene, and resulted from the erosion and transportation of exposed fluvio-lacustrine sediments by near-surface winds associated with the Asian winter monsoon. A large river channel in the Hetao Basin may have existed as early as the Pliocene, which was occupied by the Yellow River when its upper reaches formed by at least similar to 1.6 Ma. Subsequently, at least since similar to 1.2 Ma, the Yellow River formed its drainage system around the Hetao Basin and controlled the paleoenvironment evolution of the basin. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.