A high-resolution n-alkane biomarker study of peat cores from four locations around the Yuanchi maar lake in the Changbai Mountains of northeastern China, has revealed different histories of peat deposition in the closely located sequences, although they experienced the same paleoclimate changes. Comparisons of the n-alkane distributions of modern plants around the lake and those in the peat cores suggest that the disparate peat development patterns in the four sites are the consequence of different peat-forming communities growing around the lake. These floral differences were in turn controlled by different water depths associated closely with the volcanogenic lava- and tephra-shaped topography of the lake basin. Moreover, the n-alkane-inferred variations in peat development patterns and inferred recent climate changes around Yuanchi Lake relate closely to the histories of volcanic forcing in the tropical Pacific and local volcanic eruptions of the Changbai Mountains. These events evidently led to alterations of local climate that affected growth of land plants at the four locations. Finally, anthropogenic impacts since 1950 CE have had an additional effect on peat accumulation in the Changbai Mountains region.