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Exposed by the extraction of sand, gravel and basalt, Scheibenberg’s imposing basalt columns, which stand up to 30 metres tall, were a reference point in the famous Plutonist/Neptunist controversy of 1800. The dispute between Freiberg scholar Abraham Gottlob Werner (1749–1817) and Scottish geologist James Hutton (1726–1797) over how the Earth had been formed also led to conclusions about how deposits had been formed. It therefore had a direct impact on the development of geology as a science, as well as on the development of mining in the Erzgebirge. Today the Scheibenberg is one of Germany’s most important geological monuments.