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Introduction

The Namibian coastline is about 1,572 km long, extending from the Kunene River in the north (17°16'S) to the Orange River in the south (28°33'S) (Bremner 1985). Except for a broad embayment at Walvis Bay, the coastline is fairly straight, with a NNW trend. Two natural harbours capable of handling medium-tonnage vessels are located at Walvis Bay and at Luderitz. The former is protected by Pelican Point, a large sand spit, and the latter is situated in a NW-facing rocky inlet.

The Namibian coast, a passive margin feature that dates back to the early Cretaceous (Goudie and Eckardt 1999), consists predominantly of late Pre-Cambrian Da­­mara metasediments (green schist to amphibolite facies), a geosynclinal sequence with associated granitic intrusive rocks. The foliation of the Damara metasediments is roughly parallel to the coast between the Kunene and the Ugab rivers, but southward to Meob Bay it swings to strike at right angles to the coast. A number of granitic intrusions...

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References

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Bird, E., Goudie, A., Viles, H. (2010). Namibia. In: Bird, E.C.F. (eds) Encyclopedia of the World's Coastal Landforms. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-8639-7_175

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