The data were collected for a multi-technique provenance analysis of the late Eocene-early Oligocene aeolian dust sequence in Ulantatal, western Inner Mongolia, China. The data include detrital zircon U-Pb ages and detrital rutile trace element geochemistry from five samples corresponding to aeolian deposition at 34.2 (ZR2), 33.1 (ZR1), 32.5 (ZR3), 30.9 (ZR6), and 29.3 (ZR7) Ma. ZR7 was a composite sample (11 combined samples between 29.5–28.8 Ma, mean 29.3 Ma). The detrital mineral analyses were conducted at the Geological Survey of Finland using a Nu Plasma AttoM single collector ICP-MS (Nu Instruments Ltd., Wrexham, UK) connected to an Analyte Excite 193 ArF laser ablation system (Photon Machines, San Diego, USA). The detrital rutiles were analysed for Li, Mg, Al, Si, P, Ca, Sc, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, Rb, Sr, Y, Zr, Nb, Mo, Sn, Sb, Ba, La, Ce, Pr, Nd, Sm, Eu, Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, Tm, Yb, Lu, Hf, Ta, W, Pb, Th, and U. The grain sizes of analysed detrital zircons and rutiles were 20–90 μm. The data set also includes measurements of anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility (AMS) from 362 specimens corresponding to depositional ages between 34.8 Ma and 26.8 Ma. AMS was measured at the Ivar Giaever Geomagnetic Laboratory, University of Oslo and at Geological Survey of Finland with a MFK1-FA Kappabridge (AGICO Inc., Brno, Czech Republic) using a 200 A/m field at a 976 Hz frequency.

2023