The Karoo-Etendeka depositories in northwestern Namibia can be subdivided into (l) a Carboniferous-Permian, (2) a Triassic-Jurassic and (3) a Cretaceous megasequence, recording successive extensional periods, separated by time-stratigraphic gaps. Close to the present-day Atlantic coastline the Karoo Supergroup is only represented by the Permian succession in the Huab area. This is disconformably overlain by the Lower Cretaceous Etendeka Group. Further east, the Karoo succession becomes successively' more complete, but correlation with the main Karoo Basin in South Africa and the Brazilian Paraná Basin indicates major gaps in the sedimentary record. The gaps can be attributed to the combined effects ofthe long-lived South Atlantic rift evolution and orogenic pulses derived from the Samfrau active margin.