The geomorphological evolution of the coastal desert of Namibia dates essentially from the Jurassic-Cretaceous monoclinal folding of the southern African continental margin in response to the plate-tectonic fragmentation of Gondwanaland. This study supports King's (1962) regional observation that following this event, the dominant denudational impact on the landscape has been pediplanetion with associated cycles of river incision, scarp retreat and pedimentation.