Non-karstic Caves of the Bükk Region
The 2500 km2 Bükk Region forms the central areaof the North Hungarian Mountain Range. Its centre is a denudated, faulted fold structure plateau over 800 m a.s.l. The centre is surrounded on the lower elevations with intermontane basins and dissected blocks. The outskirts of the region is occupied by a detritus filled slope.
The rock formations of the Bükk Region are not, as generally believed, composed solely of limestone deposits, but also various other sedimentary, volcanic and metamorphic rocks. The limestone karst covers about 35% of the region, 15% is composed of volcanic rocks and 50% is made up of other sedimentary and metamorphic rocks.
The majority of the 1000 karstic caves have been developed in limestone.
Forty-three natural, non-karstic caves have been registered. One thousand two hundred artificial caves, mainly former cave-dwellings, have been excavated in the non-karstic rock.
Twenty two non- karstic caves have been formed in volcanic rocks (diabase, rhyoliteignimbrite, andesite agglomerate and their tuffs). There are tectonic caves as in "Haramia-gödör" formed in rhyolite orand "Suducka-zsomboly" and Jósda Cave which have developed in rhyoliteignimbrite. The caves of Damsa Chasm are atectonic caves, for example "Csapda", "Pele-vár", where the formation is the result of a landslide in the andesite agglomerate. The Nyomó-hegyi Cave and the Csüngõ -kõi Rock Shelter are the result of fragmentation of rhyolite tuff and andesite tuff respectively. Some pseudocaves, for example Felsõ-szurdoki Pseudocave, have formed amongst the large boulders of the volcanic rocks.
Twenty-one non-karstic caves have been recorded in sedimentary and metamorphic rocks. The 2 Mogyórsi Caves near Nagyvisnyó are the result of weathering and rock fragmentation. The "Agyagpala-zsomboly" in Bükkzsérc was formed after thebreak up of a presumed karst cave. The 15 calc-tufa caves of the region, for example the caves below Palota Hotel, the caves of the Dobó Bastion, Vízfõ Calc-tufa Caves and the "Dubrica-kúti-darázskõüregek", are the result of the syngenetic cave development during tufa deposition.
Because of their large numbers, artificial caves, excavated mainly in non karstic rocks such as rhyolite tuff and in sandstone, are very significant in the Bükk Region. However, this list includes only 17 of these caves which are considered as caves by the local population. These are abandoned former hermitages and underground commercial premises. The list does not include the over one thousand cellars and former cave-dwellings found mainly in built up areas.
The following caves in the Bükk Region are longer than 10 m:
1. Anna Calc-tufa Cave Calc-tufa Miskolc only 380 m natural
2. Soltészkerti Calc-tufa Cave Calc-tufa Miskolc 115m
3. "Táncterem - Lepkés-ág" Andesite agglomerate Bánhorváti 58 /-6 m
4. "Mély-hasadék" Andesite agglomerate Bánhorváti 23,5/-19 m
5. "Agyagpala-zsomboly" Clay slate Bükkzsérc 23,5/-16,6 m
6. "Lyukas-hasadék" Andesite agglomerate Bánhorváti 21/-5,5 m
7. Nyomó-hegyi Cave Rhyolite tuff Bükkzsérc 16/-7,6 m
8. "Csapda" Andesite agglomerate Bánhorváti 13/-6,8 m
9. "Haramia-gödör" Rhyolite tuff Egerbakta 13/-5,8 m
10. Víz-fõi Cave Calc-tufa Mónosbél 12,7/+0,8 m
Most of the non-karstic caves are in Bánhorváti (11 caves), Miskolc (8 caves) and in Cserépváralja (5 caves). The total length of the natural non-karstic caves is approximately 1045 m.
The length of the artificial caves (listed and non-listed) is over 6000 m.
