ABSTRACT: The study area is located at the southern part of the Black Sea Tectonic Unit in northern Turkey. Thisunit which is a part of the Alpine-Himalayan metallogenic belt extending from Eastern Europe throughCentral Asia to the Pacific region hosts several types of economic mineralization. Çayeli copper depositis one of the biggest deposits in the Eastern Black Sea region. Therefore, the host rocks in the study areacontain high concentrations of various ore elements. Soils derived from the ore-containing rocks and teaplants growing on these soils may also contain high element concentrations. In order to better understandthe seasonal variations, soil and tea leaf samples were collected during two seasons (April 2005, October2005) and analyzed for major elements (Mn, Al, Fe, Na, Ca, K, Mg, and P), and trace elements (As, Cd,Co, Cu, Hg, Pb, and Zn). Linear discriminant analysis was performed on the soil and plant data of thestudy area. Mahalanobis generalized distance of both soil and plant samples showed that there was alarge difference in the concentration level of two season’s data. Contamination in soils was qualified withpollution index and integrated pollution index. Results of analysis yield that soils are characterized byhigh concentrations of Cd, As, Pb, Zn, Mn, Cu, Co, and Hg. Since concentrations of other elements do notexceed the permissible levels they are not evaluated.