Creator: Heine, K; Walter, R Date: 1996 Language: English Subjects: Gypcretes; Namib desert Abstract: The arid Namib Desert (ca. 15°S-29°S) stretches along the Atlantic coast of south-western Africa. The first comprehensive investigation of the widespread gypcretes of the central Namib Desert prove that: 1. The gypcretes are of pedogenic origin; fog precipitation carries sulphur from the Atlantic to the desert where gypsum is formed in soils that contain carbonate from eolian input; 2. The formation of gypcretes is very slow as is deduced from gypcretes on river terraces with an age of 10 ka BP; 3. The gypcretes document that during the last 100,000 years, at least, no major humid phases interrupted the gypcrete development; 4. The paleoclimatic interpretation of the gypcrete profiles shows that more than 100,000 years the central Namib Desert experienced an arid climate; this is supported by other evidence. |
Gypcretes of the central Namib Desert, Namibia