Abstract Palaeobotanical methods and geochemical techniques were used to assess plant contribution and palaeoenvironment for the Staniantsi Basin, Bulgaria. The aim was to connect palaeovegetation change and climate oscillation based on pollen and statistical analysis with organic geochemical proxies for a Late Miocene lacustrine to paludial sedimentary succession. Three samples from lignite/marl cycles were studied. The biomarker assemblage and bulk chemical data indicated that gymnosperms were not important in the palaeomire. The presence of des-A-triterpenoids, 17,21-seco-triterpenoids, hopanes, a high content of a D-ring monoaromatic hopane, and aromatized triterpenoids suggested that photochemical and microbial processes significantly contributed to the alteration of the organic matter (OM). A prolonged period of high water table and severe mechanical destruction promoted microbial activity prior to burial and enhanced decay. A geochemical appraisal of short term climate oscillation (ca. 21.7 kyr) was attempted within the limitations of the small number of samples studied. The cycles are expressed as lignite/marl–clay layers combined with cyclic changes in swamp vegetation related to cyclic changes in groundwater level and inundation of the basin. In periods of low water level (swamp phase) lignite accumulation took place. Preliminary results for selected samples suggest that the oscillation may be reflected in the content of friedelin vs. possible degradation products. The ratio of a chromatographic peak tentatively assigned as A-norfriedel-8-en-10-one to friedelin is proposed as a means of detecting short term environmental cycles, where values 1 reflect periods of inundation. However, time-series analysis using densely sampled lignite–clay layer oscillations are needed to confirm the value of this biomarker ratio for environmental reconstruction.