Szőlősi Arany Cave

The Szőlősi Arany-lyuk is among the specially protected caves of Hungary. It is located in the Gerecse Mountains within the Danube–Ipoly National Park. Bats often occur in its passages.

Description

It is on the upper section of Farkas Valley on the eastern side of Halyagos Hill in the outskirts of Vértesszőlős, with a triangular entrance opening from a pit, which is 0.8 m high and 1 m wide. It has an unsealed entrance beside a busy tourist trail marked with a red stripe. On tourist maps it is marked with the name Arany-lyuk and a cave symbol. The Szőlősi Arany-lyuk is situated between the Szende cave and the Vértes László cave.

Its entrance opens into a small shaft, from whose base a sloping and short passage leads to an inner cave section consisting of small chambers, narrow passages and a spacious shaft 10 m deep. The periodically active water‑draining cave was formed along the upper Triassic thick‑bedded limestone E–D and ENy–DK fault lines by the corrosion of infiltrating water, but erosional forms can also be observed on the walls.

Few formations are found inside. A few small speleothems have formed in the cave. The large amount of water that periodically flows in drains away without backflow in a small shaft near the entrance. It is freely accessible to visitors.

The air temperature varies between 7.5 °C and 10 °C, generally below 9 °C. The Gerecse Cave Research and Conservation Association conducted bat observations in the Szőlősi Arany-lyuk, during which four bat species were recorded by the group members: the lesser horseshoe bat, the water bat, the whiskered bat and the common bat. Based on the observation data and the occasionally found fresh droppings, it can be considered a winter and conditionally occasional summer bat roost with a small number of species and individuals.

In 1977 the cave was first called Szőlősi Arany-lyuk in the literature. The cave appears in the literature under the names 17.sz. viznyelő (Juhász 1978), 17.sz. víznyelő (Juhász 2007), 17.sz.víznyelő (Székely 1994), Aranyluk (Bertalan 1976), Aranylukak (Vigh 1937), Arany-lyuk (Bertalan 1976), Aranylyuk (Természetjárás 1957), aranylyuk (Vigh 1937), Öreg-Kovácsi-barlang (Kordos 1984), Szöllősi Arany-lyuk (Kordos 1981), Szőllősi-Arany-lyuk (Lendvay 1977), szőlősi Arany-lyuk (Kordos 1984) and Tatabányai Arany-lyuk (Székely 1994).

Research History

According to the book published by Elek Fényes in 1848, notable fissures meet at the Szőlősi and Baji border, in which rainwater collects and, because the water cannot flow away, it runs with a great roar between and under the rock stones. Probably these fissures also feed the Tata springs.

In the 1937 issue of Turisták Lapja, in a study written by Gyula Vigh, it is stated that in the Vaskapu valley there is the Aranylyuk sinkhole cave system with 4 water sinks and 3 dolines, with a pit. A trumpet‑shaped narrow entrance at the bottom of the sinkhole, at an altitude of 376 m above sea level, is located at the intersection of the easternmost E–D fissure and passage. After a low horizontal corridor 5–6 m long, by 1930 only a 5‑ to 10‑m trumpet was passable with a narrow opening, the rest having been blocked by carried muddy rock debris. According to oral tradition, great treasures were hidden here during the old wars, which is also the origin of the name. The blood‑red Szőlősi fissures are mentioned by Elek Fényes in 1848 as periodically feeding the Tata springs. A map of the Gerecse Mountains was attached to the publication, showing tourist trail signs, more notable caves, water fissures and sinkholes. The map shows the geographical location of the Aranylukak.

According to the overview published in the 1957 edition of Természetjárás, the Aranylyuk is located in the Vaskapu valley, after the Nagyrét behind the turul. It is one of the most interesting caves of the Gerecse, having several water sinks and many pits. Researchers have entered it, but the clayey rock debris has largely blocked it. In the cave name index of the Hungarian speleology bibliography compiled by Bertalan Károly and László Schőnviszky and published in 1976, the cave located in the Gerecse mountains, in the Farkas valley, is mentioned under the name Arany-lyuk. The cave name index mentions two literary works that deal with the cave.

In the manuscript of the Hungarian Cave Gazetteer written by Bertalan Károly and completed in 1976, it is stated that the Arany-lyuk in the Gerecse mountains, also called Aranyluk, is located in the Farkas valley, at the intersection of the ravine leading from Halyagos hill to the Ferenc house, with an entrance measuring 0.3×0.4 m. It opens at the bottom of a pit-like depression. The active water sink cave, which consists of a water-conducting passage flowing into a tectonic fracture and several fissures, is 70 m long, 0.3×5 m wide and 14 m deep. Four additional unexplored water sinks belong to its system. The part of the manuscript concerning the cave was written based on a publication and the communication of Ákos Lendvay. It came to light in the 1977 MKBT Report, and in the report written by Dénes Jánossy it is mentioned that scattered prehistoric artifacts were collected in 1977 by Ákos Lendvay from the Szőlősi Arany-lyuk (Gerecse mountains).

In the 1978 report of the Vértés László Cave and Karst Research Group it is stated that, due to the results obtained so far, the group re-evaluated the site map created by the group in 1969 and therefore the 17th water sink is the Szőlősi-Arany-hole. A 1:10,000 scale site map was attached to the report, on which the locations of the caves and water sinks of Halyagos Hill are shown. The location of the Szőlősi Arany-hole is marked on the site map. In the report written by László Kordos and published in the 1978 MKBH Report, it is written that Ákos Lendvay on 6 April 1978 collected Pleistocene bone remains from the junction of the shaft and entrance pit of the Arany-hole, from a depth of about 5–6 m.