ABSTRACT
Slobodan Miko, Ladislav Palinkas, Bozidar Biondic, Ksenija Namjesnik and Suzana Stiglic
7.1 INTRODUCTION
The surroundings of the village of Ostarije, near Ogulin, were struck by an intentional blast from an ammunition depot during the retreat of the Yugoslav army on 13 October 1991. The disastrous explosion of 6000 tonnes of ammunition produced a severe pollution impact on the rural environment within 50 km 2. A reconnaissance survey revealed heavy metal contamination of soil and biota, reaching ten times the background values at the explosion site [1,2]. Although the regional contamination may not appear to be catastrophic, except for the highest values of mercury (5.0 /xg g'1) and cadmium (12.5 fig g"1), the average heavy metal contents, determined by aqua regia digestion, are in the range of those measured in the area of the Zagreb city limits (cadmium, chromium, lead, mercury, manganese and nickel) [3,4].
