Sárkánylyuk Cave

The Sárkánylyuk Cave is among the specially protected caves of Hungary. It is located on Naszály in the Danube–Ipoly National Park. It has long been known and has long been a non‑functioning spring cave.

Description

The cave is located in the Kosd outskirts, on Naszály mountain. Its entrance is about 20 m to the south of the blue‑marked tourist trail that runs along the Naszály ridge of the National Blue Trail. From the blue‑marked tourist trail one can reach it by taking an unmarked path that goes in the opposite direction of the trail leading to Násznép Cave. Its entrance opens from a 1–1.5 m deep fissure in the slate.

It begins with a 3–4 m deep pit that widens downward, into which one can easily descend. At the bottom of the pit a pile of rubble is visible. Here it can be observed that the rubble that fell through the entrance opening has filled a large cavity. Heading east the sloping passage becomes low, then finally narrows to an impassable section filled with rubble and ends. In the opposite direction one must first crouch, then a step later one can straighten up under a vaulted opening that leads toward a surface.

From here, crawling, the passage becomes increasingly steep; after passing two large fallen stone blocks a branch occurs, where to the right a very unstable side passage can be reached through a small narrow sloping hole. Here weak airflow can be detected among the stone blocks. At this spot signs of collapse can be found. Crawling into the left branch, moving on all‑covering rubble, the way leads under two beautiful dome chambers. Finally, further left upward one can enter another dome chamber, which is slightly reddish‑brown. At the same place to the right a passage descends and narrows to an impassable tunnel.

The cave that opens higher is older than the Násznép Cave, which is an old spring outlet. Currently it is so close to the surface that it has collapsed, and the rest of it is heavily filled with debris. This can be stated based on the presumed genetic analogy with the caves in the area.

In 1995 the cave was first called Dragonhole Cave in the literature. The cave also appears in the literature under the names Nagyszáli collapsed cave (Kárpát 1989), Nagyszáli collapsed cave (Bertalan 1976), water‑draining funnel above Násznép Cave (Kordos 1984), water‑draining funnel above Násznép bg. (Bertalan 1976), Fox‑hole (Bertalan, Schőnviszky 1976), Foxhole (Leél‑Őssy 1952), Dragonhole (Leél‑Őssy 1952), Dragon‑hole (Kadić 1943) and Dragonhole (Leél‑Őssy 1952).

Research history

The 1943 issue of Barlangvilág mentions that József Kerekes conducted morphological investigations in 1942 in the Dragon‑hole on Naszály hill. According to the study in the 1952 Geographical Bulletin, issue 1, the Dragonhole is on the Naszály hill plateau and is a small water‑draining funnel about 10 m deep. In the paper published in the next issue it is written that directly on the eastern edge of the Naszály hill plateau there is a small doline whose bottom has formed a water‑draining funnel. The water‑draining funnel created a small cave with a 40–50° slope and about 10 m length. The Barcza‑Thirring guidebook probably mistakenly calls this Dragonhole, or Foxhole. From the water‑draining funnel a dry and about 30 m long hidden stream channel drains.

The water sink and the small dolines lying next to it are to some extent considered hidden karst phenomena, because here the surface of the Dachstein limestone is covered by a thin Upper Triassic sandstone layer. In the cave called Sárkánylyuk, an aragonite deposit can be observed. The cave was formed in a tectonic fissure. Its deep shaft is probably not a true collapsed doline, but an old spring vent. This is indicated by the fact that there is no debris cone beneath the vent. However, there are a few apparently real collapsed dolines in the caves, as well as a blind vent, e.g. the clogged doline of the Násznép cave.

A little west of the Zsömlye cave there is a roughly 15 m long, high and narrow fissure cave, whose ceiling opens onto a roughly 12 m high vertical doline‑shaped vent that reaches the surface and looks like a deep shaft from above (Sárkánylyuk). The 1957 Hydrological Gazette states that on Naszály hill there are two dolines, which are located on the plateau above the EK‑i cave centre. The larger one is named Sárkánylyuk and is 6 m deep. Leél‑Őssy Sándor mistakenly calls the Háromlyuk cave Sárkánylyuk. The study contains a figure on which the locations of the caves of Naszály hill can be seen. The figure marks the position of Sárkánylyuk.

The 1961 Karst and Cave Research mentions that the Móricz Zsigmond High School cave research group carried out a new exploration of the cave called Sárkánylyuk on Naszály in the summer of 1961. The 1964 book titled Along the National Blue Trail states that near the Násznép Cave is the small Sárkány-lyuk. The Hungarian speleology bibliography compiled by Károly Bertalan and László Schőnviszky, published in 1976, mentions in its cave name index the cave in the Cserhát Mountains on Naszály named Sárkány-lyuk with the variant name Róka-lyuk. The cave name index lists four literary works that deal with the cave.

According to the manuscript titled Hungary's Cave Gazetteer, completed in 1976, the further names of Sárkánylyuk are Nagyszáli fissure cave and the water-filled sinkhole above Násznép bg. In the Cserhát Mountains, on Naszály, at Kosdon, about 1250 m from the summit of Naszály, at the 528 m elevation point D, it is located on the plateau above the Násznép Cave. Its entrance shaft is about 1.5 m in diameter, situated at the bottom of a small doline, about 20 m from the tourist trail at D. The cave is 10 m long, 6 m deep and 1–2.5 m high. The manuscript’s section on the cave was written based on two literary works.