ABSTRACT:The age, stratigraphical context and depositional history of the Lower Miocene Terra Member of the Pakhna Formation of Cyprus remain problematic. A sedimentary boundary between a pelagic chalk of Late Oligocene age (age-equivalent to the upper Lefkara Formation of Cyprus) and an overlying shallow water larger foraminiferal carbonate of EarlyMiocene age (Terra Member) has been analysed as representative of a stacked sequence of fining-upwards carbonate cycles in western Cyprus. Discrimination of autochthonous and allochthonous components of the foraminiferal assemblages demonstrates that the pelagic chalks were repeatedly reworked into the shallowwater environment populated by the larger foraminifera. The significance of this finding for the Cenozoic development of Cyprus is reviewed.