Útmenti Pothole

The Útmenti pothole is a cave located in the Aggtelek National Park. 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

North of the centre of Bódvaszilas, on the Upper Mountain plateau, 255° from the Vecsem-bükk peak, 320 m away, in a specially protected area, in the forest, to the right of the tourist trail marked with a red T (i.e., the pothole educational trail) (when coming from the Jóbarát pothole), directly on the eastern side of the sinkhole that lies next to the tourist path, on the upper two‑thirds of the sinkhole side, the cave entrance opens in a rock cleft. It is also reachable from Tornanádaska via the tourist trail marked with a yellow stripe. Approaching the tourist trail from the Tornanádaska side, the cave entrance is on the right. The location of the pothole is marked on some tourist maps with the name of the cave.

Its 5 × 7 m entrance is natural, oval and oriented along the vertical axis. Two small field steps, one of which is built from stones taken from the cave, allow descent to the bottom. It formed in middle Triassic Wetterstein limestone. Its formation involved tectonics, surface water, infiltrating water and corrosion. It is essentially a collapsed pothole.

If the cave continues deeper, its continuation is probably blocked by pieces of its broken ceiling. On the vertical sides of the cave, cylindrical‑wall‑type detachment marks and, among the small morphological forms, fingertip‑like knobs can be well observed. An elliptical cross‑section is characteristic of the pothole. Its horizontal extent is 7 m. Sweet‑root fern groups and leafy mosses live on the upper wall sections. No permit is required to enter the unsealed, easily walkable cave.

In 1977 the cave was first called Útmenti-zsombolyn in the literature. The cave appears in the literature under the names Útmenti-zsomboly (Csernavölgyi, Hegedűs, Molnár 1977), V/10 (Kósa 1992) and V-22 (Kósa 1992) and designations.

Research history

In August 1967 three speleologists of Vörös Meteor TE, Haász Éva, Kósa Attila and Varga Mária, surveyed the cave, after which Kósa Attila prepared, based on the survey, the cave’s 2‑section longitudinal map and floor plan map, which were drawn by Haász Éva. On card number 125 in the manuscript written by Bertalan Károly and completed in 1976 it can be read that Útmenti-zsomboly is located on Alsó-hegy, Bódvaszilás. From Vecsembükki-zsombolyt to D, on the K‑i side of the tourist trail marked with a blue cross, is the entrance of Útmenti-zsomboly. The cave is 4.3 m deep. The part of the manuscript describing the cave was written based on one manuscript.

The study published in 1977 in Karszt és Barlang contains a map of Hungary on which the geographic locations of biologically investigated caves in Hungary can be seen. The map shows the geographic location of Útmenti-zsomboly, which is under biological processing. The English‑language version of the study was included in the 1977 special issue of the journal. In this study the map was also published, on which the cave name is Útmenti Shaft. According to the speleological field report made on January 30, 1977, the cave entrance is at approximately 520 m above sea level. The cave is mainly vertical in character. Deer and badger bones were collected from the humus in the shaft. The cave’s floor‑plan length is 6.5 m, its actual length is 6.5 m, its vertical extent is 4.3 m and its horizontal extent is 7 m.

In the book titled *Magyarország barlangjai* published in 1984 there is a map of Hungary on which the geographical locations of the biologically studied caves in Hungary can be observed. The map shows the geographical location of Útmenti-zsomboly, which is under biological processing. In the national cave list of the publication the cave located in the Aggtelek Karst appears under the name Útmenti-zsomboly. Related to the list, on a 1:500 000 scale map presenting the geographical locations of the caves of the Aggtelek Karst and the Bükk Mountains, the cave’s geographical location is shown. In the figure published in 1992 in *Karszt és Barlang* showing the numerous caves, potholes and sinkholes of the Hungarian part of the Alsó-hegy, the cave’s geographical location is visible.

The book *Alsó-hegyi zsombolyatlasz* published in 1992 included maps of the cave made in 1967. In the publication, on one of the maps depicting the Hungarian side of the Alsó-hegy plateau, the cave’s geographical location can be observed. The publication also lists, together with several data, a literary work that deals with the cave. In 1992 Katalin Takácsné Bolner surveyed the cave, and using the survey she drew the cave’s plan map and longitudinal section map. On the plan map the location of the longitudinal section in the cave is shown. Since 1995, together with the other caves of the Aggtelek Karst and the Slovak Karst, Útmenti-zsomboly has been part of the World Heritage.

According to the thesis prepared by Attila Nyerges in 1997, the 6 m deep Útmenti-pothole is the 57th deepest cave of the Hungarian part of the Alsó-hegy. The 54th deepest (Iker-pothole), the 55th deepest (Kalap-pothole), the 56th deepest (Karácsony-pothole), the 58th deepest (Hideg-hole) and the 59th deepest (Dugó-hole) are also 6 m deep. The cave was one of the locations of the 1999 Lakatos Cup. In the publication of the XV Lakatos Cup held on 27 September 2008 it is listed as a 6 m deep cave. One non‑mandatory, surface contact point of the competition was the pothole.