The Junggar inland basin is located in Northwestern China, a geographical center of the Asian interior. The widespread Cenozoic deposits contain valuable archives about the aridification of inland Asia,the dust transportation pathways and the evolution of global climate change. They also can contribute to the debates about the effects of the uplifted Tibetan Plateau and the regression of the Tethys Ocean on the atmospheric circulation in Central Asia. The provenance of eolian sediments is fundamental for understanding its origin, transportation and climatic significance. Inspite of the progress on the provenance of the surface sediments in the Junggar Basin, the source of these sediments are still insufficiently studied and remain controversial. More detailed research with more proxies is needed. Rare Earth Elements (REE) has been widely used as trace elements in provenance studies of various sediments because of the similar chemical properties and little change during weathering, transportation and diagenesis. In this paper, through field investigation in the Junggar Basin, combined with its topography, wind direction circulation and so on,48 samples of various surface sediments and bedrocks were collected from different regions of the Junggar Basin. Among them, 35 samples were surface sediments, including loess, desert sands, Gobi sands, surface soils, surface sediments from the rivers, and 13 bedrock samples. REE analyses have been taken out to further explore the material sources and interrelations of the different sediments in the basin. The result shows that the total concentrations of rare earth elements excluding Y (SigmaREE) in the samples of different regions in the Junggar Basin are significantly different and the SigmaREE values vary from 55.54 g/g to 194.44 g/g. deltaEu values and UCC-normalized REE distribution patterns of the samples from different locations, as well as REE concentrations, differ from each other. These REE characteristics may suggest that the sources of the sediments in the Junggar Basin are diverse. deltaCe values of the most samples from 0.95 to 1.05 and there are hardly any Ce anomalies in the samples of the basin, which reflect an overall arid climate leading to weak pedogenesis. REE characteristics, such as SigmaREE, the UCC-normalized REE distribution patterns, and the deltaEu values, integrated with knowledge of relevant topography and wind patterns present that there is a source succession between Gobi sands in the eastern basin and the debris derived from surrounding mountains. The dust entrained by the strong northwest wind from the northern and central basin has also important contributions to the sources. REE characteristics of the Gobi sands and the desert sands in the northern basin reveal that the silt production from the Altai Mountains are their major sources, however, the moderately negative anomaly and higher SigmaREE values may represent a broader source of Gobi sands in this area. The similarity of the REE characteristics among various sediments in the western basin indicates that there is regional material source with little foreign material. For the southern basin,silt production from the Tianshan Mountains by frost weathering and/or glacial grinding should be the major sources of the desert sands and surface sediments from the rivers. The loess covering on the northern slope of the Tianshan Mountains is multi-sourced due to the influence of topography and wind direction. It derives from the desert in the basin, debris from the Tianshan Mountains, and the Gobi sands in the eastern basin. The dust from Central Asia transported by westerly winds may have also made a contribution to the material sources.