The area of the "Petrified Forest of Khorixas" is taken from sediments of the Dwyka Series of the Karroo system (Permo-Carboniferous). It is a brownish, coarse-grained to conglomeratic sandstone, which consists mostly of well-rounded quartz grains.

This sandstone horizon holds up to 40 m long silicified wood logs. The wood can be assigned to the collective genus Dadoxylon. The ground is littered in places with log fragments of all sizes. The deposit was extensively edited by R. Kräusel (1956).

Now under strict protection the approximately 65-acre area is located about 45 km west Khorixas (formerly Welwitschia) immediately north of the road to Torrabai in the southern Kaokoveld. It is the largest deposit of silicified woods in southern Africa. Known is the occurrence since the forties of last century.