Cave of Imó-kő Spring

The Imó-kő Spring Cave is among the specially protected caves of Hungary. It is located in the Bükki National Park. The Imó spring emerges from the cave.

Description

It is 7.4 kilometres from the centre of Felsőtárkány, in the administrative area of Felsőtárkány, under the southern slope of the Nagy-fennsík, at the upper end of the Lök valley, at the valley head, on the southern side of Imó-kő, in a specially protected area, on rocky terrain, in a forest, at the foot of a rock wall, where its two entrances are located. The entrances can be approached on foot. The Tamás-kúti guesthouse lies 1.4 kilometres from the cave. The main entrance, at an altitude of 450 metres above sea level, is 70 centimetres wide, two metres high, broken in character, rectangular in shape and oriented along the slope axis. The other entrance opens at an altitude of 455 metres above sea level.

It is a nicely dissolved cave formed in middle Triassic limestone, traversable for 85 metres and explored to a depth of 18 metres. Tectonics and stratigraphy were the preparatory factors in the cave’s formation. It developed along a tectonic fault line, with dissolution below the normal karst water level and the influence of outflowing karst water. It is a periodically active spring cave. The branching, single-level cave has a fissure-shaped space. Spherical stalactites, ceiling channels, erosion pots, wave shells and stalactite encrustations can be observed in it. The periodic cave stream has a temperature between 7.8 and 8.2 °C. No waterfall or siphon is known in the cave. The largest part can be visited by easy climbing, the further parts by difficult climbing. The cave can be traversed with basic caving equipment.

In 1970 it was first called Imó-kői-forrásbarlang in the literature. The cave also appears in the literature under the names Imó-barlang (Lénárt 1977), Imó-forrásbarlang (Lénárt 1979), Imó-forrás kürtője (Bertalan 1976), Imókői-barlang (Bertalan 1976), Imókői-forrásbarlang (Jakucs, Kessler 1962), Imókői forrásbarlang (Schőnviszky 1937) and Imókői forrás barlangja (Láng 1942).

Research history

It was published in the 1937 issue of Turisták Lapja that the active spring cave (Imó-kői-forrásbarlang) has a corridor-like passage that splits into several branches and becomes impassable after 17 m. The 6 March 1942 Országjárás mentioned that one of the notable caves of the Bükk Mountains is the periodic spring cave of Imó-kői. In 1953 Béla Szabadkai surveyed the cave, and using the survey a 1:100 scale floor plan map of the cave was drawn. The 1959 Karst and Cave Research states that it was formed at the boundary of lower‑ladinian dark gray and upper‑ladinian light gray limestone. About 70 m of the periodic spring cave could be entered. The passage is wide in several places, 1–2 m wide and 5–6 m high, and narrow in other places. According to the 1962 book The World of Caves, the cave’s corridor-like passage after 17 m splits into several increasingly narrowing branches.

In May 1970 the intermittent stream flowing out of the cave had a flow of 220 liters per minute. In the book *Bükk útikalauz*, which appeared in 1970, it is written that at the upper end of Lök Valley, at the foot of the Imó-kő rock wall, opens the intermittently active, 70‑metre‑long cave that branches into several arms and narrows inward. The cave is dry for most of the year, but during spring snowmelt it suddenly carries a large amount of water. Probably for this reason the valley originating here is called Lök Valley. The Lök‑valley cave is located four kilometres south of the Imó‑kő spring cave. In the autumn of 1972 the Nautilus Light‑Diver Cave‑Exploration Group visited the Imó‑kő spring cave, about 60–70 m long, ending in a narrow passage.

According to the manuscript completed in 1976 and written by Károly Bertalan, the Imó‑kő spring cave located in the Bükk Mountains at Felsőtárkány has additional names: Imókői Cave and Imó Spring Horn. At the foot of the Imó‑kő rock wall, at an altitude of 456 m above sea level, its entrance is an arched gate, which is the emergence point of the Imó spring. It is a 70 m long intermittent spring cave. It is utilized for water‑research purposes. The part of the manuscript concerning the cave was written based on a publication. In 1976 the Imó‑kő spring cave of Felsőtárkány, situated in the 5300 (Bükk) cave‑cadastral area, became a cave of national significance. In the *Magyar barlangtani bibliográfia* (Hungarian Speleology Bibliography) published in 1976 and compiled by Károly Bertalan and László Schőnviszky, the cave name index mentions the cave in the Bükk Mountains under the name Imó‑kői spring cave. The cave name index lists 12 literary works that deal with the cave.

The cave, which first saw daylight in 1977, was published in a volume compiled by László Lénárd, and its map made in 1953 was included. In the 1977 publication titled *Bükk útikalauz* it is written that a iron door closes it off due to water flow measurements. In the 1979 book *Barlangok a Bükkben* it can be read that one can reach the Imó Spring Cave via a green stripe, a blue cross, then a blue circle between the primeval forest and the Tar-kő. The intermittent spring, when active (mainly in spring), reaches a water flow of 220 l/p. In the dry period about a 60 m section of the cave is walkable for speleologists. Above it there are two fissure‑like cavities a few metres high. On the map attached to the book, which shows the area of the Bükk Mountains richest in caves, the geographical location of the cave marked with number 27 can be seen.