Xiahe—Hezuo area in Gansu Province is one of the important gold mineralization areas in the West Qinling metallogenic area. The Lower Triassic Jiangligou Formation is the main ore bearing stratum in the area which is mainly composed of feldspathic sandstone and argillaceous slate, referred as a set of fine clastic flysch formation of semi deep sea slope facies. SiO2 are ranging from 53.2% to 69.34%, with an average of 62.36%; Al2O3 are ranging from 10.80% to 17.46% ,with an average of 14.20%; FeO are ranging from 0.45% to 4.85% with an average of 3.31%; and CaO are ranging from 1.92% to 7.66% with an average of 3.59%, respectively. The total amount of rare earth elements (REE) is relatively high, and the average value is 179.98×10-6. In the chondrite- normalized diagram, the samples are characterized by enrichment in light rare earth elements (LREE), and obvious negative Eu anomaly with δEu varying from 0.55 to 0.77. Comparatively speaking, the enrichment in LREE and Eu anomaly (δEu=0.85~1.18) are not obvious in the North American shale- normalized REE distribution diagram. Furthermore, the zircon geochronological studies showed that there are some age clusters in the studied clastic rock samples including the Paleoproterozoic—Neoproterozoic (peaking at 1866 Ma and 2501 Ma), Caledonian (peaking at 463 Ma), and Indosinian—Hercynian (peaking at 276 Ma and 391 Ma). Based on the geochemical features of the clastic rocks and the age data, the tectonic setting of the source area of the Jiangligou Formation could be referred to as the continental island arc and the active continental margin. The source materials of the Jiangligou Formation clastic rocks are mainly from the felsic volcanic rocks which are majorly the contemporaneous magmatic rocks from the West Qinling Mountains and adjacent areas, and some are from the basement rocks of the North Qinling structural belt, Qilian Orogenic Belt and south margin of the North China Craton.