Csörgő Hole

The Csörgő Hole is Hungary's longest and best known cave formed in non-karstic rock. It is the only specially protected cave in the Mátra. It is Hungary's only specially protected cave that formed in volcanic rock.

Description

On the northern part of the Mátra, on the eastern slope of the High Mátra, in the Bükki National Park, on the south side of Ágasvár, about 500 m from the Ágasvár tourist house, a few metres above the Vándor spring is its horizontal axis‑oriented entrance. It can be approached on foot via the red‑sign tourist trail that branches from the red‑band marked tourist path leading from the Ágasvár tourist house toward the Vándor spring; the branch is marked with a red Ω, i.e., a red cave sign. The cave’s entrance, closed with a steel grate, opens at an altitude of 543 m above sea level in a small rock group. The entrance area is equipped with well rings, which have been installed because of the risk of collapse.

The largest cave in Hungary formed in non‑karstic rock. Its length is 428 m, depth 29.6 m and horizontal extent 62 m. The cave was formed in rhyolitic tuff, or riolitic tuff, by rockfall and thrusting. Due to tectonic movements, a tilted, fragmented rock mass formed and continues to move, creating the cave. On an average 20° slope the rock blocks slide toward the DK, and therefore most of the void system passages formed between the thrusting rock blocks are parallel to the EN–DN direction strike. The Csörgő Hole is a tectonic origin cave. Tectonic caves are caves formed in large moving rock fragments on a slope, which have several genotypes. The Csörgő Hole belongs to the type of tectonic caves formed by thrusting.

In the deep zone a small water stream can be observed periodically and there is standing water in the Bat Chamber. Its climate differs from the climate of other Hungarian caves. At its deep points the air temperature in summer barely exceeds 4 °C. The narrow, in some places collapse‑dangerous, labyrinthine and difficult‑to‑walk cave can be visited with cave‑knowledge, caving practice, the permission of the Bükki National Park Directorate and basic caving equipment. In the part called the Halálvigyor mine rope‑technical equipment must be used.

It contains beetles, for example Choleva agilis, fungus gnats, for example Sciara ofenkaulis, and butterflies, most notably the dogbane hawk moth, the red lacewing owl and the daytime peacock eye. The cave is a roost for bats, especially long‑eared bats.

One entrance leads to the very complex room labyrinth, which consists of a few small chambers and a few passages, as well as mine passages. Some of the mines and passages are very narrow, or a few narrow mines suddenly widen downwards. The walls are composed of granular, light‑gray, partly crumbly tuff blocks. There is no mineral extraction in it. A morphological curiosity is the nicely shaped Ship Corridor and the Super Cube stone block. Smaller and larger rock blocks make up most of the walking levels. There is little fine‑grained debris in it. The well ring extends to the 8 × 4 × 5 m Large Chamber, from the well ring to the approximately 30 m long entrance section. The initially crouched, sloping passage ends in a downward‑widening, 5 m deep mine called the Funnel.

After the Funnel, a gentle sliding passage leads to the Large Hall, which is located 13 m deep. From the bottom of the Funnel one can also reach the Large Hall via two passages. The slightly elongated hall’s ceiling and side are bounded by a large, smooth rock surface covered with graffiti. Its floor is covered with small stones and rock blocks and here is the spectacular rock formation called Hajóorr. From the Terrace, at the east‑west end of the Large Hall, the 1st Circuit starts. This consists of several parallel passages heading toward the east‑west direction, mainly narrow passages and the vertical and sloping shafts and domes that connect them. The Hell is located on the lower level of the approximately 90 m long section.

The 2nd Circuit starts from the south‑west corner of the hall with a relatively spacious corridor toward the north‑east and reaches the Slanted Hall, which is 10 × 5 × 2 m and located 15 m deep. The place called Slide, then the narrow part called Joseph Hall, together with side branches, form a 110 m long section. The return route requires difficult climbing in the debris zone beneath the Large Hall. From the bottom of the Slanted Hall one can enter the M‑system’s approximately 60 m section through very narrow gaps at two places. The narrow corridors lead to a difficult-to‑traverse debris zone, whose two wash‑outs are the F‑Hall and the recently collapsed Trapezoid Hall. In the M‑system, which is passable for the thin‑bodied, is the Super Cube, a separate regular cube‑shaped stone block with an edge length of 8 m, and a landmark of the cave. A report on various paranormal phenomena associated with the stone block has appeared in the press.

The 3rd Circuit proceeds toward the deepest point of the cave through gaps between the stone piles at the bottom of the Great Hall. The upper zone of the approximately 80 m long passage is a labyrinth between stone blocks, whose passages are called the Giliszta passages. Sharp turns and ledges, as well as crawl‑able corridors, lead to the Bat Chamber measuring 8 × 3 × 4 m and 27 m deep, whose bottom sometimes contains a lake. From the chamber several blind passages start, including the 5 m long, narrow, low passage that almost leads to Ny, at the end of which the Vidróczki spring originates. The water seeps through cracks in the wall and disappears in the debris at the end of the corridor. The periodic lake in the Bat Chamber is filled by the spring when the water flow is high. The 6 × 7 × 5 m section called the Surprise Chamber and the corridors leading from it can be reached by descending with a rope at the section named the Death‑Grin Pit.