The Amspoort Silts, northern Namib desert (Namibia): formation, age and palaeoclimatic evidence of river-end deposits

The Amspoort Silt terrace is evidence of palaeo-hydrological fluctuations in NW-Namibia. At present, the Hoanib river erodes deeply into the silty deposits, indicating that NW-Namibia receives more monsoonal rainfall today than during the Little Ice Age. However, this contradicts the hypothesis of a (continual) natural aridification of NW-Namibia (Damaraland, Kaokoveld) since the mid-19th century in the course of global climatic change. Rather, deposition and erosion of the Amspoort Silts indicate that landscape degradation in NW-Namibia is primarily anthropogenically induced and most probably not accelerated by a decrease in precipitation.