Kő-lik-völgyi No 8 Cave

The Kő-lik-völgy 8th chamber is a cave located in the Vértes Mountains of the Danube–Ipoly National Park, in Csákvár.

Description

The cave is situated in the outskirts of Csákvár, in a specially protected area, in a forest. It is on the D side of the Kő-lik valley, north of the centre of Csákvár. The entrance of the Kő-lik-völgy 8th chamber is on the steep small side valley opposite Kő-lik, at the top of the valley edge, on the forest border, at an altitude of 299 m a.s.l. The low rock wall that encloses the cave is heavily covered with vegetation during the leafy season, therefore the chamber is relatively difficult to notice. The entrance to the chamber lies about 3 m up in the rock wall, so it can only be reached by easy rock climbing. The cave entrance is 1.8 m wide, 0.6 m high, of natural origin, irregularly shaped and inclined along the axis.

The low and flat, rock‑gap‑type, formation‑free, insignificant small chamber was formed in a Triassic dolomite breccia of sharp debris due to freeze‑thaw rock disintegration. It slopes outward, therefore its floor contains little debris or sand. Its walls are very algal, and moss has also settled at the entrance. Apart from spiders and insects, no other organisms occur in the cave. The cave, which is difficult to approach (steep terrain) and can be traversed by rock climbing, can be visited without permission and without basic caving equipment.

In 1979 the cave was first called the Kő-lik-völgy 8th chamber in the literature. The cave also appears in the literature as Kőlik-völgy 8th cave (Kordos 1984).

Research history

According to a manuscript prepared by the Alba Regia Cave Research Group in 1979, the Kő-lik-völgy 8th chamber (K8) had not been mentioned in the literature before. The cave lies on the edge of Csákvár (Fejér County, Bicske district). On the DNy side of the Kő-lik valley, in the steep small side valley K‑i wall almost in the middle of the valley, directly (2–3 m) below the valley rim, at about 270 m a.s.l., it is located. Its flat, 3 m wide, 1 m high entrance slopes from right to left and is barely visible from below. The floor of the small rock‑gap‑type cavity slopes outward, and its interior is dry. In the dolomite breccia, the cavity formed by freeze‑thaw has only a negligible amount of fill. The chamber extends 3 m horizontally and its internal height is 0.8–1 m. Ferenc Szolga can show the locally significant, research‑unworthy cave. Members of the Alba Regia Cave Research Group visited the cave on 11 February 1979 and carried out its survey at that time.

The manuscript includes the cave floor plan map and a map of 3 sections. The maps depict the cave at a scale of 1:100. The floor plan map indicates the east direction on the map sheet. The floor plan map shows the location of the 3 sections in the cave. The cave was surveyed by Szolga Ferenc and Widermann Tibor on 11 February 1979 for the preparation of the maps. The maps were drawn by Szolga Ferenc on 23 February 1979. The manuscript contains a map of the western part of Csákvár (approximately 1:25,000 scale). The map indicates the east direction. The map shows the geographical location of the Kő-lik-völgyi 8th chamber (on the map: K8). The manuscript contains two photographs illustrating the cave. The first photograph shows the view of Kő-lik-völgy. The photograph was taken at the southern end of the Csákvár cemetery. The photograph marks the location of the Kő-lik-völgyi 8th chamber. The second photograph presents the ridge of the eastern side of Kő-lik-völgy (with Csákvár in the background). The photograph marks the location of the Kő-lik-völgyi 8th chamber. The photographs were taken by Zentai Ferenc.

The cave named Kőlik-völgyi 8. in the national cave list of the book "Magyarország barlangjai" published in 1984 appears among the caves of the Vértes Mountains. In the list, the cave’s geographical location is shown on a 1:500 000 scale map depicting the location of the caves of the Dunazug Mountains. In the book by Béni Kornél and Viszló Levente, published in 1996, it is mentioned that there are 11 caves in the Kő-lik valley in Csákvár. In addition to the Kő-lik, many other cavities are located relatively close to each other. These cavities formed in dolomite conglomerate and dolomite breccia. The Cave No. 1 of the Balogh valley and the Cave No. 2 of the Balogh valley are in every respect similar to the caves of the Kő-lik valley. Because many caves can be observed in the Fáni valley, the Fáni valley is similar to the Kő-lik valley. The building rock is the same dolomite breccia. In the formation of the caves in the Fáni valley, freeze‑thaw disintegration also played the main role.

According to the registration sheet drawn up on the basis of a cadastral survey on May 2 2003, the cavity numbered 8 of the Kő-lik valley, cadastral number 4521‑26, is located in Csákvár (Fejér County) in the Vértes Mountains. The coordinates of the entrance of the cavity (Trimble GeoExplorer 3) are: X 604301, Y 228138, Z 299. The cave is in a rock cleft on a hillside, in a forest, and has a natural, irregularly shaped, sloping, longitudinal entrance 1.8 m wide and 0.6 m high. The detailed surveyed cave is 3 m long, extends 1 m vertically, is 1 m high, 0 m deep and 3 m wide horizontally. The cavity lies in Triassic dolomite breccia. The cavity formed due to frost‑induced rock fragmentation. The floor of the cave, which has a cavernous shape, rises, and its typical floor type is irregular.