UNCORRECTED PROOF Palaeokarstic surfaces in the Upper Cretaceous limestones of central Jamaica David J. Miller*, Simon F. Mitchell Department of Geography and Geology, University of the West Indies, Mona 7, Kingston Jamaica Accepted 10 February 2003 Abstract Two prominent pitted surfaces in rhythmic, late Maastrichtian, rudist-bearing limestones in central Jamaica are described. The lower surface is pock-marked with small pits that form a nodular, mamillated surface. The pits are roughly circular to gently elliptical in plan view. They vary in diameter from 5–170 mm and in depth from 5–90 mm, and are orientated perpendicular to bedding. This surface is buried beneath a lignite-rich siltstone bed. The upper surface contains microkarren phenomena represented by small cylindrical potholes up to 40 mm in diameter and 30 mm deep. These surfaces are interpreted as palaeokarstic because the pits are: (1) perpendicular to bedding and not the present land surface; (2) infilled with very poorly sorted siltstone, and (3) overlain by lignitic shales indicating terrestrial influx. The presence of two palaeokarstic surfaces in late Maastrichtian limestones suggests short-period cycles in relative sea level, consistent with glacial-eustatic driving mechanisms.  2003 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. Keywords: Maastrichtian; limestones; palaeokarst; rudists; Jamaica. 1. Introduction Palaeokarst can be defined as ‘fossil’ karst, a remnant from a previous period of karstification, and character- ised by the presence of ancient, buried surfaces and deposits. It is distinguished from relict karst, which originated within the present phase of karstification, and although the geomorphic processes which formed the terrain are no longer operative, the karst is still being modified by contemporary processes. Palaeokarst is, therefore, buried and inert, and although it can include karst of interstratal and hypogene origin (Ford & Williams, 1989), most documented palaeokarsts are surficial, epikarstic phenomena and cavernous features (Bosak et al., 1990). Palaeokarst occurs across the same range of spatial scales as does active karst, from small- scale solution sculpturing to surface features with tens to hundreds of metres of relief (Ford & Williams, 1989). At the small extreme, one of the most common types of palaeokarst is solution pitted exposure surfaces capping shallow-water limestones forming cycles or rhythms, where the carbonates were briefly exposed to vadose diagenesis and karren pitting before re-submergence and burial by new carbonate deposition (Ford & Williams, 1989). The Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) to early Palaeo- cene succession in the Central Inlier (central Jamaica: Fig. 1) is represented by the Kellits Synthem (Mitchell, in press). This shows a transgressive-regressive cycle of probable Caribbean-wide tectonic significance (Mitchell & Blissett, 2001; Mitchell, in press). The transgressive succession begins with braided-stream type conglomer- ates, passes up through tidal flat sandstones-mudstones and into thick rudist-bearing limestones (Mitchell, 1999; Mitchell & Blissett, 2001; Mitchell, in press). The regres- sive succession consists of a volcaniclastic, braid-delta complex (Mitchell, 2000; Mitchell & Blissett, 2001). Although there have been extensive studies of the palae- ontology of the limestone of the Kellits Synthem (e.g., Whitfield, 1897; Trechmann, 1924; Chubb, 1971; Coates, 1977; Jiang & Robinson, 1977; Sohl & Kollman, 1985; Donovan, 1993; Hazel & Kamiya, 1993; Krijnen et al., 1993: Sandy et al., 1997; Mitchell, 2002a,b; * Corresponding author. Dr D. J. Miller. E-mail address: smitchell@cwjamaica.com (D.J. Miller). @nt_ws10/hling/CLS_journals/GRP_elsevier/JOB_123/DIV_02014 May 12, 2003 08:32:30 ARTICLE IN PRESS Cretaceous Research 00 (2003) 1–10 0195-6671/03/$ - see front matter  2003 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. doi:10.1016/S0195-6671(03)00032-6 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61