Peculiar hydrothermal caves in Budapest, Hungary

Abstract

In the capital of Hungary, Budapest, which Ottokar Kadic`´ called 'the capital of the caves', beneath the Rozsadomb (Rose Hill) district of the city, many thermal-karstic caves were discovered based on the lucky coincidence of geologic-hydrologic-speleological fundamentals. At present more than a hundred caves and cave indications are known in this 5-6 km2 area. The hills are made up of Triassic and Eocene carbonate sequences. Five caves are km-size. The corridors are sometimes longer than 100 m, and their walls are often adorned by spherical niches. The total length of the caves exceeds 35 km at present. The galleries of these caves are situated in the Eocene Szepvolgy Limestone. Some galleries and most of the cave indications can be found in the Eocene Buda Marl. The lowest galleries of some caves extend into the Triassic carbonate sequences. Although many paleokarstic cavities and caverns exist in the area the age of the largest caves - according to the preliminary results of investigations still in pr...