Quartz, feldspars and clay minerals are the major constituents of all studied sources, with highly variable calcite contents reflected in the CaO concentrations. Chinese and Tibetan dust sources are enriched in middle REE relative to the upper continental crust and average shale but the Thar desert has a REE signature distinctly different from all other dust sources. There are significant differences in major, trace and REE compositions between the coarse and fine fractions of the surface sands, with the finest <4 ¦Ìm fraction enriched in Al2O3, Fe2O3, MnO, MgO and K2O and the <32 ¦Ìm fractions in Sc, Y, Th and the REE relative to the coarse fractions. The <4 ¦Ìm fraction best represents the bulk REE geochemistry of the samples. The provenance tracers Y/¡ÆREE, La/Er, La/Gd, Gd/Er, La/Yb, Y/Tb, Y/La, Y/Nd and to a certain extent the europium anomaly Eu/Eu?/sup> (all REE normalized to post-Archean Australian shale, PAAS) are particle size-independent tracers, of which combinations of Y/¡ÆREE, La/Yb, Y/Tb, Y/La and Eu/Eu?/sup> can be used to distinguish the Thar desert, the Chinese deserts, the Chinese loess plateau and the Tibetan soils. Their independence upon grain size means that these tracers can be applied to the long-range provenance tracing of Asian dust even when only bulk samples are available in the source region. Combinations of La/Th, Y/Tb, Y/¡ÆREE, Sc/La and Y/Er distinguish the Tibetan soils from the Chinese loess plateau and the Chinese deserts. La/Th and notably Th/¡ÆREE isolate the signature of the Badain Juran desert and the combination of Sc/La and Y/Er that of the Taklamakan desert. The similarity in all trace and REE-based provenance tracers between the northern Qaidam basin and Tengger desert suggests that these two deposits may have a common aeolian source.