Volcnoes birthplace Tihany
The Balaton Uplands more or less consist of volcanically rock. Right where you do stand at the above mentioned coordinates, of the Tihany Peninsula, the first volcanoes of the area had been "born" eigth million years ago. That time you would have found here the remains of the Pannonian Sea, choking up with sediments and losing its salt content. You would have seen the melt basaltic magma bursting out of the surface, along the fault lines in the deep - you would have experienced the birth of the first volcano at the Balaton Uplands. Because of the interaction between the water-saturated sediments and the hot magma, the volcanic eruptions were explosive and often ripped up even big pieces from older rocks, lying several hundred meters below.
At the mentioned coordinates you will find an information board and, just across, in one of the former monk caves, a piece of sandstone. Have a look at the sack-like depression below this, different coloured, sandstone: the hot sediment might have been still plastic, mud-like, when the rock hit it. The steam explosions - first some ten meters beneath the ground, then severeal hundred meters below - had been so intense, that even a few days or hours had been enough to form the 40 meter thick outcrop that can be observed in the vicinity of the monk caves.
To log this earthcache I would like you to do the following:
Send me a mail via my profile at geocaching.com, mentioning the cache name, as well as
1. the color of the sandstone piece and
2. the hungarian word for "monk caves"
3. Place yourself, with the GPS in hands, in front of one of the caves and get a foto taken, which you load up to your log.This is not optional any longer!
If you don´t get an answer of me, I am either not in reach of an internet point or everything was correct anyway.
I would like to recommend the, here as well located, traditional cache „The monk of Tihany“ (GC6685). The cache is a bit more difficult, because of the terrain, as you have to walk up the hill above the caves.
It will be not too easy to get your car parked near the path up to the cache site. Take attention about the „no parking“ signs along the road at the Balaton! You will see the fishermen leaving their cars at the grass beside the road, which is okay, but sometimes you may not even find a space. We left the car at a small parking place at N46 55.378 / E017 53.111. The path to the caves starts at N46 55.212 / E017 53.270. Follow the two green marks. Be prepared of the mosquitoes in the wood!
Have fun, enjoy the trip and don´t forget to visit the Tihany Abbey as well, as it is a nice place and brilliant view up there.
Best regards from Germany
awema
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