The contents of ten trace elements in soils from northern China were determined. The effects of parent material and soil types on the element abundances were investigated statistically by the methods of ANOVA and multiple classification. The adjusted independent variances, calculated based on the factor score, were computed to describe the influence of soil formation processes on the contents and distribution of the trace elements in the soils.The significant differences in element abundances among various types of soil and among soils derived from various types of parent materials, especially the latter, were observed. The soil formation processes related to element content might be categorized as a) the leaching process, and b) formation of clay, biological absorption, and humification. The influence directions of the two kinds of processes are different, but the strengths of them sll decreased from east to west at the same time. The leaching tendencies of trace elements from east to west, therefore, decreased first and then increased, due to the co-effects of the two kinds of the processes. The majority of elements including copper, nickel and chromium was characterized by leaching during the formation of soil, while significant influences of the second kind; of processes were noticed for manganese and zinc.