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We conducted petrographic, geochemical, and new U–Pb laser ablation inductively coupled mass spectrometry analyses of detrital zircons in the sandstone samples from the important Mengqiguer sandstone-type uranium deposit located in the Yili basin of the Xishanyao Formation. This formation (Shuixigou Group) is a major uranium-bearing target stratum in the basin. The main purpose of our investigations was to determine the provenance of the host sand units that has remained unclear to date. Our petrographic results suggested that the host sandstone is texturally and chemically immature, indicating superior physicochemical conditions for later uranium mineralisation. The major and trace element data of the detrital sandstone samples point towards the upper continental crust, and the chondrite-normalised rare earth element (REE) plots show enriched light REE and relatively flat heavy-REE distribution, with a negative Eu anomaly. The characteristics of the REEs and the trace elements point to felsic rocks as the provenance of the target strata with a continental arc tectonic setting. The detrital zircons indicate an age span of ∼235–∼2327 Ma, with major age populations of ∼300–∼500 Ma. The increasing amount of zircon grains from the Late Devonian to the Early Carboniferous coinciding with the age of volcanic magmatic activities of the Wusun and Nalati mountains indicates that the rocks formed under the Tianshan collisional orogeny and the subsequent extensional environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]