Káposztás-kerti No 3 Cave

The Káposztás-kerti 3rd cave is one of the caves located in the Aggtelek National Park. 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 in Szögliget, 2.2 kilometres north‑west of the centre of the settlement, 2.2 kilometres from the Salamandra house, at 258°, 772 metres from the Ménes pond, at 289°. It can be approached through a beautiful gorge valley from the Ménes valley. The Káposztás-kerti spring is north‑west, in a straight line 600 metres from where the stream flows into the Ménes stream. The natural, triangular entrance is on the hillside above the spring, in a rock cleft, about five–six metres higher than the spring, at an altitude of 277 metres above sea level, in a forest. It is situated between the Káposztás-kerti 1st cave and the Káposztás-kerti 2nd cave. It lies about four metres north‑east of the Káposztás-kerti 2nd cave.

The inactive spring cave has a simple passage that runs north and north‑east. The unsealed cave is easily accessible and can be traversed with basic cave‑tour equipment.

The cave also occurs in literature under the names Káposztás-kerti 3rd cave (Vlk 2019) and V žlebu (Vlk 2019).

Research history

In 1957 the Kinizsi Cave Research Group investigated the flood‑eruption sites of the Káposztás-kerti spring. According to the manuscript about the research, the Káposztás-kerti spring is difficult to find because the spring is in dense underbrush, on the north side of the stream bed, under a rocky hillside, at an altitude of 270 metres above sea level. The spring’s water flow on 27 August 1957 was about 300 litres per minute. The temperature of the spring water was 10.6 °C. The spring’s water‑flow variation is very large, which the well‑developed and rocky flood‑stream bed above the spring indicates. It is probably connected to the Derenk 1st water intake and therefore the cave system may be 600 metres in a straight line.

The residents of Vidomáj-puszta led the group's researchers (György Szentes, Árpád Csekő, Pál Bártfay and Gábor Frojimovics) to the blocked spring, where, after inspecting the rock walls above the spring, they found four flood emergence points. First they began to clear the first two, marked A and B on the map, but did not get far due to the narrowing of both passages. Through the opening marked C on the map, the Káposztás-kerti No 1 cave was discovered. With this research, Lajos Györödi started, and later György Dénes continued, the clearing of the fourth emergence point, marked D. While deepening a clayey, very blocked passage, after about 4 m they felt a strong draft. Then this passage also became very blocked and, due to lack of time, work had to be abandoned at this site.

The caves of the Aggtelek Karst and the Slovak Karst were declared a World Heritage Site in 1995, therefore the Káposztás-kerti No 3 cave is also part of the World Heritage, although it is not listed in Hungarian registers. The cave was discovered in 2018.

In the book on the karst phenomena of Alsó-hegy published in 2019 it is stated that the Káposztás-kerti No 3 cave (V žlebu) is 7 m long and of unknown depth. The cave identification numbers are: in Slovakia 0109, in Hungary none. The book published a site plan drawn in 2018, on which the relative positions of the Káposztás-kerti No 1 cave, the Káposztás-kerti No 2 cave and the Káposztás-kerti No 3 cave and the floor plans of the three caves can be seen. The site plan edited by Jiří Novotný was surveyed by Jiří Novotný, Mojmír Záviška, Martin Mandel and Jarmila Mandelová in 2018. The map was digitized in 2019 by Luděk Vlk.