Rőt-kúti Dreher Pothole

The Rőt-kúti Dreher pothole is one of the caves located in the Aggtelek National Park area. 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

From Komjátitól to É, on the Upper Mountain plateau, from Vecsem-bükktől to K, from the boundary stone numbered XII.49 marked on the tourist map to DK, from the boundary stone numbered 49/2 to D, about 30 m from there, in the Rőt-kúti sinkhole marked on the tourist map, on the side of the sinkhole nearer the upper part of the sinkhole, on the É side, is the triangular, narrow and vertically oriented entrance of the Rőt-kúti Dreher pothole. The tourist trail marked with a yellow stripe that starts from Tornanádas runs closest to the cave entrance among the indicated tourist paths. The boundary stones provide a more reliable reference for finding the entrance.

The entrance marked with a pothole symbol on tourist maps was created at the intersection of two fissures of the pothole. The cave formed in the middle Triassic Wetterstein limestone. After the narrow entrance, the narrow shaft widens at a depth of almost 5 metres. At about 15 metres depth there is a clayey and crumbly ledge. Practically the cave consists of a single shaft whose horizontal extent is 6 metres. At the bottom dripstones can be observed. The pothole is not closed and can be entered without permission using a 30 m rope and rope‑technical equipment.

In the literature the cave also occurs under the names “49/2‑pothole” (Krekács 1989), 49/2‑pothole (Vlk 2019), 49‑pothole (Krekács 1989), “49‑pothole” (Krekács 1989) and Forty‑nine 2‑pothole (Vlk 2019). These names were derived from the nearby boundary stone. The name Rőt-kúti Dreher‑pothole was given to the cave by members of the MAFC Cave Exploration Group.

Exploration history

In the autumn of 1986 Károly Krekács discovered the cave entrance and at the end of 1987 Krekács’s team surveyed the cave. After the survey István Szenthe determined that this was a previously recorded cave. Therefore Károly Krekács did not report the discovery of the previously unknown pothole. However the pothole had not yet been recorded. In 1988 Imre Petren surveyed the cave, and then Károly Krekács, based on the survey, prepared the basic plan map draft of the cave and two vertical longitudinal section map drafts. According to the map drafts the cave is about 25 metres deep.

According to the manuscript written by Károly Krekács in 1989, when the entrance of the cave was found the entrance was double opening. The cave shaft is 25 m, which widens at a depth of 15 m and two small domes branch off from it in the middle. The MAFC Cave Exploration Group mentions in its 1990 report that the cave is about 20 m deep. Since 1995 the cave, together with the other caves of the Aggtelek Karst and the Slovak Karst, has been part of the World Heritage. According to the thesis prepared by Attila Nyerges in 1997, the 23 m deep Rőt‑kúti Dreher‑zsomboly is the 25th deepest cave of the Hungarian part of the Alsó‑hegy. The 24th deepest (Rókalyuk‑zsomboly) and the 26th deepest (Iskola‑zsomboly) are also 23 m deep.

In the XV. Lakatos Cup publication held on 27 September 2008 the Rőt‑kúti Dreher‑zsomboly is listed as a 23 m deep cave, but it was not among the competition sites. In 2010 Ctirad Piskač and Martin Mandel surveyed the cave, then Ctirad Piskač, based on the survey, drew the longitudinal section map of the cave and four cross‑section maps. The longitudinal section map shows the location of the four cross‑sections in the cave.

In the book about the karst phenomena of Alsó-hegy published in 2019 it is written that the Röt-kúti Dreher-pothole (49-s pothole, 49/2 pothole, Negyvenkilenc 2 pothole) is of unknown length and 21 m deep. The cave identification numbers are: in Slovakia 185, in Hungary 5452/64. The book published the cave’s length‑section map made in 2010 and the four cross‑section maps made in 2010. The cave was surveyed in 2010 by Ctirad Piskač and Martin Mandel, then in 2010 Ctirad Piskač drew the cave maps based on the survey. The maps were digitized in 2015 by Luděk Vlk. The publication included a colour photograph showing the formations inside the cave. A detailed map of Alsó-hegy was attached to the publication. The map was made by Luděk Vlk, Mojmír Záviška, Ctirad Piskač, Jiřina Novotná, Miloš Novotný and Martin Mandel. On the map, where caves and potholes are marked with black dots, the geographical location of the Röt-kúti Dreher-pothole (5452/64, 185) can be seen.