Peculiar to Scharfenstein, compared to other basalt outcrops in the area, are the very well-developed basalt columns, which are for the most part horizontal or slightly inclined. Basalt in columnar form is due to cooling, in which the long axis of the column is in the direction of the slowest cooling. It is likely that after eruption or intrusion, the basalt slumped back to produce the outcrop features at Scharfenstein.