Jóbarát Pothole

Jóbarát 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 pothole has been part of the World Heritage since 1995.

Description

North of the centre of Bódvaszilas, on the Upper Mountain plateau, southwest of the Vecsem-bükk peak, 400 metres away, in a specially protected area, approached from the tourist trail marked with a red T sign, the cave trail, from the Tektonik Pothole side, to the right, directly beside the tourist path, it opens on the edge of a scree. It is also reachable from Tornanádaska via the tourist trail marked with a yellow stripe. Approached from the tourist trail, from the Tornanádaska side, the entrance is on the right. Some tourist maps indicate the cave’s location by marking the name of the cave.

The narrow entrance of the pothole has a vertical axis direction. The cave was formed in middle Triassic Wetterstein limestone. Its entrance part is narrow, the lower part is a chamber more than 5 metres long. In the chamber, stalactite drips can be observed. At its deepest point, the continuation of the cave is blocked almost everywhere by a large amount of clay. The 12‑metre horizontal, vertical‑type and unsealed pothole can be visited only with permission and the use of rope‑technical equipment. To enter, 40 metres of rope, a piton, a rope ring and two carabiners are required.

In 1976 the cave was first called Jóbarát Pothole in the literature. The cave also appears in the literature with the designations 57 (Kósa 1992) and V‑33 (Kósa 1992).

Research History

On 17 March 1973 László Csernavölgyi and István Pelikán discovered the cave. In 1975 members of the VMTE Tektonik Cave Research Group (András Molnár and I. Törő) surveyed the pothole, and then András Molnár drew the cave’s two longitudinal section map and plan map based on the survey. In 1976 the group prepared the cave’s two longitudinal section map and plan map. These latter maps appeared in the 1976 MKBT Report.

In Bertalan Károly's manuscript completed in 1976 there is no mention of the cave. According to the speleological field report made on January 30, 1977 and based on the cave's 1975 exploration, the cave entrance lies at an altitude of 519 m above sea level. The cave entrance is a narrow fissure, and 30 m of rope is required to enter the cave. The cave's planimetric length is 9 m, its actual length is 46 m, its horizontal extent is 10 m and its vertical extent is 29 m. On April 7 1983 Kraus Sándor made a copy of the cave maps published in 1976. In the national cave list of the book *Caves of Hungary* published in 1984 the cave on the Aggtelek Karst appears under the name Jóbarát‑zsomboly. Associated with the list is a 1:500 000 scale map showing the geographic location of the caves of the Aggtelek Karst and the Bükk Mountains, on which the geographic location of the cave is shown.

The geographic location of the cave is shown in the figure published in 1992 in *Karst and Cave* presenting the many pits, dolines and sinkholes of the Hungarian part of the Lower Mountains. The maps edited by the Tektonik Cave Research Group appeared in the book *Atlas of the Lower‑Mountain Dolines* published in 1992. One of the maps showing the Hungarian side of the Lower‑Mountain plateau marks its position. Together with several data, four literary references in which the cave is mentioned are listed.

In 1994 the MAFC Cave Survey Group mapped the cave and produced its longitudinal section map and plan map. Based on the maps drawn in 1994, the cave's development plan was later completed. Since 1995 the cave, together with the other caves of the Aggtelek Karst and the Slovak Karst, has been part of the World Heritage. According to the thesis written by Attila Nyerges in 1997, the 29 m deep Jóbarát sinkhole is the 20th deepest cave of the Hungarian part of the Lower Mountain. The 1999 edition of the Lakatos Cup had one of its venues at the Jóbarát sinkhole. In the publication of the XV. Lakatos Cup held on 27 September 2008, it is listed as a 29 m deep cave. It was one of the possible points of contact for the competition.

In the book on the karst phenomena of the Lower Mountain, published in 2019, it is stated that the Jóbarát sinkhole is 35 m long and 29.5 m deep. The cave identification numbers are: in Slovakia 57, in Hungary 5452/42, other V‑33. The book includes the cave's 1975 two longitudinal section map and the five cross‑section maps made in 1975. One longitudinal section map shows the location of the five cross‑sections within the cave. The cave was surveyed in 1975 by András Molnár and L. Törő, and then in 1975 András Molnár drew the cave maps based on the survey. The maps were digitized in 2016 by Luděk Vlk. The publication includes a detailed map of the Lower Mountain. The map was made by Luděk Vlk, Mojmír Záviška, Ctirad Piskač, Jiřina Novotná, Miloš Novotný and Martin Mandel. On the map, where the caves and sinkholes are marked with black dots, the geographical location of the Jóbarát lode (5452/42, 57) can be seen.