Eger Pothole

The Eger pothole is one of the caves located in the Aggtelek National Park area. Together with the other caves of the Aggtelek Karst and the Slovak Karst, the cave has been part of the World Heritage since 1995.

Description

It is located on the Baradla roof at the edge of Aggtelek, at a bearing of ENE from the summit, on the K side of a sinkhole in a forest, in a specially protected area, with the pothole’s vertical axial entrance not closed. The entrance is situated in that sinkhole, which also opens to the Baradla roof pothole. The Eger pothole lies about 100 m from the Baradla roof pothole. It is found to the left of the tourist trail marked with a blue triangle that starts from the main entrance of the Baradla cave in Aggtelek.

The cave’s entrance fissure is about 3 m long and about 1 m wide. The pothole was formed in middle Triassic Wetterstein limestone. The vertically oriented cave consists of a 9 m deep entrance shaft that widens downward and a side fissure. Old stalactite remnants and a pea‑sized, sinter‑like depression with a pebble surface can be observed in it. The cave can be visited without a permit.

Research history

The cave was discovered in April 1986. The discoverers were led by Tamás Kutas. In 1986–1987 the length and depth of the originally 3 m deep pothole initial passage were increased by removing infill debris up to a stalagmite crust. In 1987 a work titled “A Baradla‑teto­i‑zsomboly” written by Tibor Csifári was published, which also mentions the Eger pothole. In July 1988 the speleology department prepared the cave’s longitudinal section map in the D–E direction, the longitudinal section map in the N–W direction, and the cross‑section map.

The Hungarian Karst and Cave Research Society's 1988 central research camp had the cave as one of its excavation sites. At that time it was managed to deepen it by a few meters, but for some reason the exploration was stopped, and then the cave became filled again. According to the camp information, a publication on the sinkhole has not yet appeared, but the publication contains a reference to Tibor Csifári's publication. Together with the other caves of the Aggtelek Karst and the Slovak Karst, the cave has been part of the World Heritage since 1995. According to the cave register sheet made in 1999, the cave entrance is 0.6×2.2 m, fissure-shaped, natural and horizontally oriented. The freely visitable cave length, depth and vertical extent, based on detailed survey, is 4.5 m.

According to Attila Nyerges's study published in 2001, the Eger sinkhole is a 4.5 m deep, narrow fissure. The entrance of the Eger sinkhole is located on the K edge of the Baradla roof sinkhole shaft, next to the Baradla roof sinkhole, 80 m from it, at an altitude of 467 m a.s.l. In the spring of 2002, when the rubble was started to be removed again, the cave was about 4.5 m deep. During the excavation of the cave, at about 6 m depth a stalagmite about 2 m thick, filling the entire cross‑section of the sinkhole, was found and was broken through to allow further passage. At the end of the spring excavation the cave was 11 m long and 9 m deep.

In the autumn of 2002, at a depth of 8.5 m a 2 m long, side‑ear‑shaped fissure was discovered in it. On 20 October 2002 Péter Gruber surveyed the sinkhole and, based on the survey, drew the vertical (ÉNy–DK direction) longitudinal section map of the cave, which marks the cave floor level of 1980 and the floor level of 2002. The map presents the cave at a scale of 1:100.

In the 2003 book titled *Magyarország fokozottan védett barlangjai*, in the section about the Baradla-tetői-zsomboly, it is mentioned that the Eger-zsomboly is 8 m deep. In the study written by Péter Gruber in 2003, the cave is described in detail. Attached to the description is the cave map made in 2002. The publication states that the cave is 11 m long and about 9 m deep. In another part of the study it can be seen that the cave is 9 m deep. On 4 November 2009 Attila Kovács edited the cave longitudinal section map. For the preparation of the map the cave was surveyed by Attila Kovács and Péter Matyuga. The map presents the cave at a scale of 1:50. The map shows the cave’s depth in 2008. According to the map the cave is 7.4 m long and 7.4 m deep. In 2010 Kovács and his colleagues did not explore the pothole.