Keleti quarry No 10 Cave

The Keleti quarry No. 10 cave is one of the caves located in the Budai Landscape Protection Area of the Danube–Ipoly National Park in District III of Budapest.

Description

On the eastern part of the Buda thermal karst, at the southeastern, abandoned, two‑storey quarry of Mátyás Hill, on the lower mining level, on the eastern, right‑hand side of the mining level, at an altitude of 217 metres above sea level, is its entrance. North of the Keleti quarry No. 10 cave is the Keleti quarry No. 9 cave. The entrance of the Keleti quarry No. 10 cave is natural in character but was opened due to mining, round and horizontally oriented along the axis. The remains of old spherical chambers of a dissolved‑wall, karst‑origin, 4.6 m long, narrow cave can be found in front of the cave entrance. No permit is required to view the easily accessible cave. The cave passage is easily walkable even without basic equipment.

In the literature the Keleti quarry No. 10 cave also appears as cave 10 (Acheron 1993), cave 10 (Kárpát 1985), cave 10 (Kárpát 1984), cave 10 (Kárpát 1984), cave 10 (Kárpát 1984), cavity 10 (Kárpát 1983), Keleti quarry No. 10 cave (Leél‑Őssy 1995) and Mátyás‑h. DK‑i cave 10 (Kárpát 1984). It may be that the names Mátyáshegyi rock cavity 1 (Bertalan 1976) and Mátyás‑hegyi rock cavity 1 (Kordos 1984) are variants of the name Keleti quarry No. 10 cave.

Research history

According to the statements of elderly people living nearby, there were many cavities on the quarry floor when the quarry was operating. The many small caves on the wall of the upper quarry yard and the numerous cave indications and formations suggest that quarrying destroyed a large cave, or the upper part of a large cave. The caves visible today are remnants of this large cave. From the 1943 Cave World it is known that Károly Bertalan and Béla Albert, within the systematic study of the caves around Buda, examined 14 small cavities in the quarries of Mátyás Hill and Kecske Hill.

It first appeared in the 1957 Geographical Bulletin, and the study written by Sándor Leél-Őssy mentions the large stone quarry cavities of Mátyás Hill, which formed in nummulite limestone. On the site map in the study that shows the geographical location of the caves of the Buda Hills, the geographical location of the cavities found in the large stone quarry of Mátyás Hill can be observed. (These cavities are listed on the site map among the karstic caves.) In the book titled Budapest natural pictures published in 1958 it can be read that there are karstic cavities in the wall of the large stone quarry of Mátyás Hill facing D. In the book Budapest edited by András Vitéz and Miklós Pap and published in 1961 there is mention that a hiker can see cavities in the stone quarry located on the DK side of Mátyás Hill, which are similar to the Mátyás Hill cave but small in size.

In the report published in the 1963 Karst and Cave Research Information, it is mentioned that the BEAC Cave Research Group investigated the K side stone quarry of Mátyás Hill in 1962. On the quarry’s rock wall several openings are visible, of which two (in their present condition) can be called caves. No one has yet dealt with their investigation. Geologist Gábor Láng mapped the cavities. Characteristic spherical chambers indicate the karstic origin of the cavities. The largest is about 4 m in diameter. In addition to the exploration of Barit Cave, research is also promising at two other locations.

The 1964 Karst and Cave Investigation Bulletin mentions that in the quarry on Mátyás Hill in Budapest's District III, overlooking the Danube, long‑known cavity remains were found in 1963. The cavity system is highly charged with spherical chambers and hydrothermal fissures. Members of the BEAC Nature Hiking Section Cave Investigation Group have been carrying out exploratory work at several points of the quarry since 1962. In 1963, working about 200 hours, they were able to advance forward at several places. They saw that the situation was encouraging, but only a great amount of work could yield results. They planned to continue the exploratory work in the quarry in 1964. They began the geological and mineralogical processing of the site, the precise surveying, leveling and mapping of the area. They will certainly finish the cartographic work in the spring.

The book published in 1966 titled Budai‑hegy Guide states that in another (DK) quarry on Mátyás Hill (not the Mátyás‑hegy cave quarry) there are also small cave cavities. Nine cavities became known in this stone mine. The 1972 Karst and Cave Bulletin reported that on 24 April 1972 (at the request of the Budapest Police Headquarters), due to their disappearance, members of the Cave Rescue Service inspected the cavities of the eastern quarry of Mátyás Hill.

In the manuscript completed in 1976 and written by Bertalan Károly, among the caves in the DK quarry of Mátyás Hill, this cave may be briefly described under the name Mátyáshegyi 1. sziklaüreg. The manuscript states that the Mátyáshegyi 1. sziklaüreg is located in Budapest District III, on the edge of the K terrace of the DK quarry, on the left side of the road leading to the mine. In 1943 the cave entrance was free. The water‑origin cave is about 3 m long and about 2 m deep. The part of the manuscript concerning the cave was written based on two publications. In the 1978 report of the Vass Imre Cave Research Group it is written that the group has been researching and mapping the K quarry on Mátyás Hill for several years. Some chambers of the quarry were broken into by the young group members in 1978, resulting in the extension of several chambers by 2–3 m, but no significant result was achieved.