Dunaalmási-quarries Natural Reserve
<p style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="FR">In the north-western part of the Gerecse Mountains, on the border of the villages of Dunaalmás and Szomód, between the Által-ér and the Izsán Valley and between Vöröskő and Les-Hgy, we can study one of the largest strata of limestone springs in the mountain range.</span></p>
It is protected by the Decree 47/2007 (X. 18.) of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry on maintaining the protection of the Dunaalmási quarries nature reserve.
- Declared protected: by Decision No 17/1977 of the State Administrative Court of the Dunaeval Municipalities.
- Register number: 154/TT/77
- Extent: 230 ha
- Boundaries of the municipalities concerned: Dunaalmás and Szomód
Short description of the protected natural area
The source limestone was already used as a raw material for construction by the Romans and was mined until World War II.
The Gerecse is a characteristic rugged mountain range. Along the fault lines that flank the edges of the mountain mass (especially along the Tatra and Danube valley fault systems), hot springs with high water yields have sprung up and from these springs the limestone is extracted. Above Dunaalmás the source limestone covers more than 2.5 square kilometres and is 20-25 metres thick. The source limestone began to erupt in the Pannonian period and in places has continued to the present day. The complete cessation of the hot springs activity was caused by the large-scale subsidence of the karst water table associated with mining in the Tatabánya coal basin.
The rocks of the protected quarry were deposited in the Lower Pleistocene. It consists essentially of the four large quarries of the past. The Dunaalmás source limestone is of so-called tetrateous origin: the springs from which the source limestone was extracted flowed in a north-westerly direction. The source limestone is used to build dams 3.5 m high. The water flowed over them and collected in shallow lakes 30-50 m in diameter.
The quarries have yielded extremely valuable archaeological finds. Of interest are a species of elephant (Elephas planifrons), an extinct species of turtle (Clemys beekeeper) described here and freshwater molluscs living in the spring ponds.
No less interesting and rare is the flora living on the surface of the protected quarries: the pine forest of the Somodian fern forest (sheltering 18 of the 33 fern species found in our country), planted on the site of the sandy grassland of the fens. Nowhere else in Europe is there a habitat like this, where so many fern species, their hybrids and varieties occur in such a small area. Unfortunately, climate/weather changes over the last decade have not favoured the survival of the habitat.
Between Mount Stone Pie and Mount Les, the so-called 'stone road', built by the Romans to transport the limestone quarried here by Roman slaves, remains intact. This is the longest known intact Roman road in Hungary.
The source limestone in Dunaalmás is unique in Hungary. For this reason, the rock outcrops of the Dunaalmás quarries are considered to be a geological basement.
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