Keleti quarry No 6 Cave

The Keleti quarry No. 6 cave is one of the caves located in the Budai Landscape Protection Zone of the Danube–Ipoly National Park in Budapest’s District III. It is the second longest cave of the Mátyás‑hegy DK quarry, the longest being the Barit cave.

Description

In the K‑section of the Buda thermal karst, on the upper mining level of the abandoned, two‑storey quarry of Mátyás‑hegy DK, on the right‑hand side facing the É‑rock wall DK, at the border of limestone containing marl and Discocyclina, is its entrance. The entrance of the Keleti quarry No. 6 cave and that of the nearby Keleti quarry No. 7 cave are at roughly the same height, 5 m apart from each other. The Keleti quarry No. 13 cave is also close to it. The entrance is natural, but was opened due to mining, irregular in shape and vertically oriented. A hornbeam has grown in the entrance area and the tree reaches the surface through the entrance iron grate.

It was formed along a tectonic fault by the dissolving action of rising thermal waters from depth. The entrance shaft is 2 m deep. There are three chambers in the cave: the Kormos chamber, the Sün chamber and the Vau chamber. Its deepest point is in the section opening from the floor of the Sün chamber on the Ny‑side, and its highest point is located in the Vau chamber on the É‑side. A spherical niche can be observed in it. Bats occur in the cave. Access to the unsealed cave requires a permit and basic caving equipment.

The name of the Sun-room comes from the Eocene Echinoida that has been prepared on its ceiling. In the literature of the Eastern quarry No 6 cave it occurs as 6th cave (Acheron 1993), 6‑cave (Fehér, Fritz 1995), 6th No cave (Fehér 1994), 6th No cave (Fehér, Fritz 1996), 6. No cave (Kárpát 1984), 6.No cave (Kárpát 1984), 6.No.cave (Kárpát 1984), 6. No cave (Kraus 2004), 6.No workplace (Kárpát 1987), 6. No object (Fehér 1994), 6. No cavity (Kárpát 1983), DK quarry No 6 cave (Acheron 1993), Eastern quarry 6‑7 No cave (Leél‑Őssy 1995), Kormos‑cave (Fehér 1994), Kormos cave (Fehér 2012) and Mátyás‑h. DK No 6 cave (Kárpát 1984).

Research history

According to the statements of elderly people living nearby, there were many cavities at the quarry floor level when the mine was operating. The many small caves on the wall of the upper mine 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 Bertalan Károly and Albert Béla, within the systematic processing of the caves around Buda, examined the 14 small cavities in the Mátyás‑hill and Kecske‑hill quarries.

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 nummulitic 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 természeti képe* published in 1958 it is written that in the wall of the large stone quarry of Mátyás Hill facing D there are karstic cavities. In the book *Budapest* edited by András Vitéz and Miklós Pap and published in 1961 it is mentioned that a hiker can see cavities in the stone quarry on the DK side of Mátyás Hill, which are similar to the Mátyás Hill cave but smaller in size.

The report published in the 1963 Karst and Cave Research Bulletin mentions 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 stone quarry on Mátyás Hill overlooking the Danube in Budapest's District III, 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 conducting exploratory work at several points of the quarry since 1962. In 1963, working about 200 hours, they were able to advance forward in 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 most certainly finish the cartographic work in the spring.

The book published in 1966 titled *Budai‑hegy Guidebook* 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. The 1978 report of the Vass Imre Cave Investigation Group states 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 results were achieved. According to the *Budai‑hegy Guidebook* that saw the light of day in 1982, there are small water‑origin cavities in the K‑side quarry of Mátyás Hill.