Non-karstic Caves of the Bükk Region
The 2500 km2 Bükk Region forms the central areaofthe 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-two natural, non-karstic caves have been registered. One thousand two hundred artificial caves, mainly former cave-dwellings, havebeen excavated in the non-karstic rock.
Twenty two non- karstic caves have been formed in volcanic rocks (diabase, rhyoliteignimbrite, andesite agglomerate and their tuffs). Thereare 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 Csüng õ -kõi Rock Shelter are the result of fragmentation of rhyolitetuffand andesite tuff respectively. Some pseudocaves, for example Fels õ-szurdoki Pseudocave, have formed amongst the large boulders of the volcanic rocks.
Twenty non-karstic caves have beenrecorded in sedimentary and metamorphic rocks. The 2 Mogyórsi Cavesnear Nagyvisnyó are the result of weathering and rockfragmentation.The "Agyagpala-zsomboly" in Bükkzsérc wasformed after thebreakup of a presumed karst cave. The 15 calc-tufacaves of the region, for examplethe caves below Palota Hotel, thecaves of the Dobó Bastion, Vízfõ Calc-tufa Caves andthe "Dubrica-kúti-darázskõüregek",are the result of the syngenetic cave development during tufa deposition.
Becauseof their large numbers, artificial caves, excavated mainly in non karsticrocks such as rhyolite tuff and in sandstone, are very significant in theBükk Region. However, this list includes only 18 of these caves which are considered as caves by the local population. These are abandoned formerhermitages and underground commercial premises. The list does not includethe over one thousand cellars and former cave-dwellings found mainly inbuilt up areas.
The followingcaves in the Bükk Region are longer than 10 m:
1. AnnaCalc-tufa Cave Calc-tufa Miskolc only 380 m natural
2. SoltészkertiCalc-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"Clayslate Bükkzsérc 23,5/-16,6 m
6. "Lyukas-hasadék"Andesite agglomerate Bánhorváti 21/-5,5 m
7. Nyomó-hegyiCave 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 totallength of the natural non-karstic caves is approximately1045 m.
The length of the artificial caves (listed and non-listed) is over 6000 m.
