Uranium (U) contamination in groundwater of the uranium mines exploited using the in-situ leaching (ISL) technology (also referred to as the ISL uranium mines) has attracted wide international attention. Since the adsorption of U in groundwater by aquifer media in uences the migration scope of U, understanding the U adsorption by aquifer media is of great signi cance for accurately predicting the in uencing scope of ISL uranium mines on groundwater. This study collected sandstone samples from the ore-bearing aquifer outside a typical mining area in a uranium mine exploited using the acid ISL (AISL) technology (also referred to as an AISL uranium mine) in northern China. Using these sandstone samples, this study conducted batch adsorption experiments and column experiments of U to reveal the characteristics and major in uencing factors of U adsorption under different conditions. The results show that the adsorption of U by sandstones in the ore-bearing aquifer outside a mining area satis es the pseudo-second-order kinetic equation and the linear isothermal adsorption model. In the batch U adsorption experiments, the adsorption e ciency and capacity for U reached maxima of 77.45% and 0.069 mg/g at pH 7, respectively. As shown by column experiments, the sandstones showed a signi cant increase in the U adsorption and retardation as pH increased. The SO 4 2− concentration has minor effects on U adsorption under experimental conditions. Sandstones from different monitoring wells exhibited different U adsorption characteristics. Sandstone cores with relatively high contents of clay minerals such as illite showed strong U adsorption. Under the same experimental conditions, the U distribution coe cient K d (6.91×10 − 2 L/g) obtained from column experiments is much less than that (0.14 L/g) obtained from the batch U adsorption experiments. These results suggest that it is necessary to take into account the U adsorption and retardation by aquifer media in predicting the impacts of ISL uranium mines on the groundwater environment.