Almási Pothole

Almási Pothole is one of the specially protected caves of Hungary. It is located in the Aggtelek National Park. Together with the other caves of the Aggtelek Karst and the Slovak Karst it has been part of the World Heritage since 1995. The pothole was the deepest cave in our country until 1939. It is one of the eight specially protected caves of Bódvaszilas.

Description

It opens on the Upper Mountain plateau, northeast of the hunting lodge on Szabó-pallag, about three metres from the state border, at the border stone number 41.9. It extends underground into the territory of Slovakia. Its entrance is natural, 1.5×2.5 metres and is located on the upper edge of one side of a ledge. It formed in Triassic Wetterstein limestone. The stepped cave system developed along a fissure. Its horizontal extension is 42 metres.

The walls have drainage channels, in the lower section there are limestone mud pockets where water can be 50 centimetres deep and which contain calcite crystals and speleothems. Various speleothem forms, stalactite flags, flowstones, heliktites and popcorn stones can be observed on the walls, and sometimes there is a lake at the bottom. Hydrologically it is connected to the Tapolca spring emerging in Slovakia. The marked water was also noticed by locals in the Andród Garden spring, but this is not confirmed by test samples. Visiting the cave requires permission from the Aggtelek National Park Directorate and the use of rope‑technical equipment.

It is one of the eight specially protected caves of Bódvaszilas; the other seven are Frank Cave, the water‑draining cave No. 2 on the Kopaszgally side, Kopasz‑vigasz Cave, Meteor Cave, Szabó‑pallag Pothole, Széki Pothole and Vecsembük Pothole.

The pit got its name from the boundary of the settlement of Szádalmás, which formerly ran by the cave. The cave occurs in its literature as 05 (Kósa 1992), Almási-lyuk (Börcsök, Elekes, Németh, Nyerges 1997), Almási lyuk (Nyerges 2003), Almási Shaft (Kordos 1977), Almási zsomboly (Kessler 1931), Almássy-zsomboly (Magyar Turista Élet 1934), Almásy zsomboly (Polgárdy 1941), Almás-zsomboly (Börcsök, Elekes, Németh, Nyerges 1997), Almás zsomboly (Bertalan 1976), S-6 (Kósa 1992), Sz/1 (Bertalan 1976) and SZ/1 (Kósa 1964) names and designations as well.

Research History

The first written mention of the Almási pit occurred in 1851. In 1911 Pál Kornél Scholtz first entered the pit during an expedition exploring the area's caves, where he recorded his observations. At that time the cave depth was 43 m. In 1927 András Beliczay, István Frank, Hubert Kessler and Gyula Kiss descended to a depth of 103 m in the pit. Hubert Kessler produced the longitudinal section map of the cave that year. In 1929 Eugenio Boeganna published an Italian-language work on the pit. This publication included the longitudinal section map and plan map of the Almási pit. Both maps were drawn by István Frank.

It was published in the August 28, 1934 issue of Magyar Turista Élet that Kessler Hubert and his colleagues are currently researching the caves of Vecsembük. The Almási cave is 103 m deep and therefore the deepest cave in Hungary that is partially explored. From the deep point located at 103 m depth they were able to go down another 14 m and determined that the cave is even deeper, but due to a lack of equipment the exploration of this part was temporarily halted. In the September 22, 1934 issue of Magyar Turista Élet it became known that Kessler Hubert’s team, besides the Aggtelek investigations, visited the Almási cave, which is Hungary’s deepest cave at 103 m depth.

In 1934 it became known to a depth of 113 m and Kessler Hubert’s team determined that it is deeper than 113 m. The research was to be continued the following year with better equipment than at that time. In the cave they found dripstones larger than those of the Aggtelek cave. It was Hungary’s deepest cave at 113 m depth until 1939, when the deeper part of the Kis‑kőháti cave was explored. New measurements showed that the Almási cave was not 113 m deep.

In the June 15, 1935 issue of Magyar Turista Élet it is reported that several members of the Caving Section of the Budapest University Tourist Association, led by Kessler Hubert, went again into the 103 m deep sinkhole and again concluded that further progress in the cave can be achieved only with more perfect equipment, especially longer rope ladders. The book titled *Beneath the Caves* published in 1936 contains a detailed account of the expedition of Kessler and his team, and the publication includes the longitudinal section map of the sinkhole and three photographs. The Hungarian Tourist Encyclopedia published in 1941 mentions that the 103 m deep Almási sinkhole is the deepest sinkhole in Hungary. In the second edition of the book *Beneath the Caves*, which appeared in 1942, information about the cave and its exploration was published, as well as the illustrations that appeared in the first edition.

In 1959 Attila Kósa, Kálmán Kovács and Miklós Rónai (members of the Red Meteor TE Cave Exploration Group) surveyed the cave, then Gábor Frojimovics and Attila Kósa drew, based on the survey, the Almási pothole D–E longitudinal section map, the N–S longitudinal section map, the 4 cross‑section maps and the plan map. The plan map indicates the east direction. On the two longitudinal section maps the location of the 4 cross‑sections in the cave can be seen. The 7 maps present the cave at a scale of 1:400. On 31 December 1962 it was Hungary’s 6th deepest cave at a depth of 93 m. (The 7th Nagykőmázsa‑valley water‑draining cave is also 93 m deep.) In 1963 members of the Red Meteor Cave Exploration Group precisely measured the location of the Almási pothole entrance relative to the hunting lodge on Szabó‑pallag. According to the measurement the cave entrance is 21° 50' direction, 575 m from the hunting lodge. Attila Kósa’s study published in 1964, titled “On the Questions of Pothole Formation”, mentions the Almási pothole several times. The map in the paper shows the cave’s geographical location.