Zsozsóka Pothole

Zsozsóka-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

It is located on the Upper Mountain plateau, in the outskirts of Bódvaszilas, 240 m from the hunting lodge on the Szabó-pallet towards Ny (towards the Szabó-pallet pothole), next to the right side of the dirt road, on the slightly further side, on the second sinkhole on the Ny side 60 m from the dirt road, in a forest, in a specially protected area, at an altitude of 490 m above sea level, in a rock climbing area, the Zsozsóka-pothole has a hard‑to‑find horizontal axial, broken, 70×50 cm oval entrance.

The cave was formed in middle Triassic Wetterstein limestone. Finger stalactites, pendant stalactites, flowstone, stalagmite columns, stalactite draperies and stalactite encrustations, as well as coral onyx and other onyx can be observed in it. Most of the mineral deposits no longer develop. The horizontal extent of the cave is 6 m. The unsealed cave can be visited without permission using rope‑technical equipment. Exploration requires 20 m of rope, a rope loop and a carabiner.

The cave also appears in literature under the names and designations G–12 (Vlk 2019), Sz/0-s (Nyerges 2001), SZ/0-s (Kósa 1992), SZ/0-s-pothole (Vlk 2019), Sz/0-s-pothole (MAFC 2008), Sz/0-s pothole (MAFC 2008), Sz/0.-pothole (Nyerges 1997) and Zsozsóka‑hole‑pothole (Vlk 2019).

Research history

The cave was discovered in 1986 by István Szenthe and members of the Ferenc Papp Cave Research Group. According to the information booklet published in 1986 by Karst and Cave, Ferenc Papp Cave Research Group participant was a member of István Szenthe’s summer lower‑mountain camp. The group contributed to the exploration of Zsozsóka-pothole. In 1991 the BEAC Cave Research Group produced the cave’s longitudinal section map and four cross‑section maps. The longitudinal section map shows the location of the four cross‑sections in the cave. According to the survey the cave is 15.5 m deep.

The book titled *Alsó-hegyi zsombolyatlasz* published in 1992 contained the longitudinal section map of the cave made in 1991 and four cross‑section maps. One of the maps showing the Hungarian side of the Alsó-hegy plateau displays the geographical location of the cave.

Together with the other caves of the Aggtelek Karst and the Slovak Karst, the cave has been part of the World Heritage since 1995. According to the thesis prepared by Attila Nyerges in 1997, the 16 m deep Sz/0. pothole is the 36th deepest cave of the Hungarian part of Alsó-hegy. It was one of the venues of the 1999 Lakatos Cup. In 2001 the BEAC Cave Exploration Group placed a radar detector in it. The registration sheet of Zsozsóka‑pothole dated 16 June 2001 records that the cave is 17 m long, has a vertical extent of 15.5 m, a depth of 15.5 m and a horizontal extent of 6 m. The exploratory research of the freely visitable cave would probably be successful.

The cave was one of the venues of the Lakatos Cup held on 27 September 2003. In the competition one of the extra tasks was a cave communication test performed in the pothole. In the publication of the XV Lakatos Cup held on 27 September 2008 the cave is listed as a 16 m deep cave. The booklet published the 1991 longitudinal section map of the cave with an installation diagram. The site plan in the publication shows the geographical location of the cave. The pothole was one of the possible touch points of the competition.

In the book about the karst phenomena of Alsó-hegy, published in 2019, it is written that the Zsozsóka-pothole (SZ/0-s-pothole, Zsozsóka-hole-pothole) is 17 m long and 15.5 m deep. The cave identification numbers are: in Slovakia 180, in Hungary 5452/19, other G–12. The book published the cave’s length‑section map made in 1991 and the 4 cross‑section maps made in 1991. The cave was surveyed in 1991 by BEAC, then in 1991 BEAC drew the cave maps based on the survey. The maps were digitized in 2016 by Luděk Vlk. 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 Zsozsóka-pothole (5452/19, 180) can be seen.