The paper is devoted to various significant polyatomic and doubly charged interferences observed for trace elements determined by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry in geological samples. It has been shown that most interferences can be minimized or completely excluded using an ELEMENT 2 high-resolution mass spectrometer. The influence of spectral interferences has been quantitatively estimated. Recommendations are given for the selection of isotopes with minimal spectral interferences and an optimal resolution mode. The detection limits for analytes are evaluated for three resolution modes: 300, 4000 and 10000 together with the interferences related to the errors of rare-earth element determination.