The Paleogene quartz sandstones of the Sosnovka formation are widely occurred in the Uljanovsk-Syzran Volga region and are used as valuable building materials. The article comprises an improvement for the continental origin of the Sosnovka sandstones based on the results of a comprehensive study of the features of the mineral composition and microstructure of quartz sandstones of the Sosnovka formation obtained by using petrographic, XRD and electron-microscopic analyses.