Some samples from DSDP Holes 530A and 532 were analyzed for their fossil pollen content. The sites are located in the southeastern corner of the Angola Basin, about 200 km west of the present coastline.Fossil pollen assemblages of Holocene to Miocene age were compared with present-day pollen deposition in the arid Namib sand sea. The strong resemblance of all the pollen spectra indicates that very arid conditions existed in the coastal region of Namibia in Quaternary and Pliocene times. These data are in agreement with the late Miocene origin of the coastal aridity and with the conception that upwelling of cold water was responsible for these desert conditions.

Supplement to: van Zinderen Bakker, Eduard M (1984): Palynological evidence for late Cenozoic arid conditions along the Namibia Coast from Holes 532 and 530A, Leg 75, Deep Sea Drilling Project. In: Hay, WW; Sibuet, J-C; et al. (eds.), Initial Reports of the Deep Sea Drilling Project (U.S. Govt. Printing Office), 75, 763-768