Abstract Late Paleozoic tectonic links between Luliang Uplift and the adjacent West Junggar terrane remain poorly understood, despite their significant implications for the tectonic reconstruction of Junggar terrane and its role in the evolution of the Central Asian Orogenic Belt. The western Luliang Uplift offers a critical window to address this problem. In this study, based on seismic profiles and geophysical interpretation of the western Luliang Uplift, and from new geochronological and geochemical data, we evaluate the tectonostratigraphic evolution of the region. The western Luliang Uplift is composed of Carboniferous basalt, andesite and dacite interbedded with multiple layers of siltstone and mudstone. Zircon U–Pb isotopic data indicate that these rocks coevally erupted in 323–327 Ma. Seismic profile across the tectonic belt shows that the western Luliang Uplift experienced a structural inversion from Carboniferous extension to latest Carboniferous–Early Permian compression. The basalts and andesites show tholeiitic to calc-alkaline affinity, high eNd(t) (6.4–8.0) and low initial 87Sr/86Sr (0.703497–0.704826), relative enrichment in LILEs and REEs, and depletion in HFSEs, especially Nb, Ta and Ti. The dacites show arc-like geochemical characteristics comparable with I-type granite, and positive eNd(t) (4.8–4.9) and eHf(t) (4.1–9.9) values. These features indicate that the basaltic rocks and dacites were derived from partial melting of a depleted mantle modified by slab-derived fluids and a juvenile lower crust respectively in an island arc environment during the Early Carboniferous. Furthermore, these coeval volcanic rocks show a temporal variation of tholeiitic to calc-alkaline series in the south to calc-alkaline to shoshonitic series in the north, together with extensional deformation and formation of the volcano-sedimentary sequence. These features suggest that the western Luliang Uplift was dominated by northward subduction with forearc and intra-arc basin in the Early Carboniferous. The Middle Permian terrigenous strata unconformably overlie the Early Carboniferous strata, indicating that the ocean basin might have closed during the Early Permian. Similarities in the tectonostratigraphic evolution show that the western Luliang Uplift and southern West Junggar terrane share a common tectonic evolution from Carboniferous subduction–accretion process to Early Permian amalgamation, further confirming the Luliang Uplift as an important link between the East and West Junggar terranes.