No 4 Cave of Róka-hegyi quarry

The No 4 cave of the Róka-hegy quarry is one of the caves located in the Budai Landscape Protection Zone of the Danube–Ipoly National Park, in Budapest District III.

Description

In one of the already abandoned quarries of Róka-hegy, the southeasternmost mountain of the Pilis range, on the quarry’s Danube‑side rock wall, about 6 m above the quarry floor, is the entrance to the cave. The entrance is not visible from below. The entrance can be seen by climbing up the rock wall toward the No 3 cave of the Róka-hegy quarry. The No 4 cave of the Róka-hegy quarry is situated between the Róka-hegy Crystal Cave and the No 2 cave of the Róka-hegy quarry. The No 4 cave and the No 3 cave of the Róka-hegy quarry were formed along the same tectonic plane. The entrance to the No 4 cave can be reached by easy rock climbing and the exploration of the cave does not involve great hazards. The cave can be visited without a permit and with basic caving equipment.

The 2.5 m long cave consists of a single simple sloping passage that narrows at its end. The cave was formed in the same way as the other caves in the quarry, under phreatic conditions.

The cave occurs in the literature under the names Mászófali Lower Cave (Sásdi 1997) and Róka-hegy Quarry Mászófali Lower Cave.

Research History

The cave was discovered as a result of stone mining. The Budapest Lexicon, which saw publication in 1973, mentions that from the depressions of quarries operating or abandoned on the top and sides of Róka-hegy two small (water‑origin) pits and several small artificial voids open. The cave’s name does not appear in the national cave list of the book *Caves of Hungary* published in 1984. The cave was surveyed on 8 March 1997 by László Sásdi, who then prepared the floor‑plan map of the Mászófali Lower Cave (Róka-hegy quarry) based on the survey. The map presents the cave at a scale of 1 : 100.