Holocene beachrocks of the Jaguaribe beach, State of Pernambuco, northeastern Brazil, consist of horizontal, cemented layers approximately 40 cm thick. The cement shows three textural varieties: (a) calciferous, surrounding siliciclastic grains, (b) micritic, with an acicular fringe; and (c) cryptocrystalline calcite in pores. Early cementation took place at the water table below beach ridges, where geochemical, hydrodynamic and, perhaps, also microbiological conditions favored rapid precipitation of aragonite and/or high-Mg calcite. δ 13 C values range from -1.8 to +1.5 • / •• for dissolved carbonate in interstitial water and from +0.2 to +2.1 • / •• for bioclastic components. δ 18 O values range from -2.8 to +0.5 • / •• for seawater, freshwater and interstitial water. δ 13 C values and diagenetic features suggest that cementation occurred in meteoric-vadose and/or marine-phreatic water by loss of CO 2 during evaporation of the interstitial water. Locally, superimposed lowMg calcite cements point to subsequent freshwater influence. Total-rock cement composition of vertically stacked beachrock beds at the Jaguaribe beach shows that the highest beachrock bed is older than the one (of same petrographic composition) situated at the current groundwater level. This implies a downward progression of cementation, which probably followed the sea-level fall after a local high stand.