Regional correlation and Early Miocene paleogeology: Coro/Falcón, Perla–Coral, Aruba, Curaçao and Bonaire

GLIAG essay, GIP Essays · Regional correlation (Bonaire Basin series), Revision 1.1 (8 November 2026). At c. 20 Ma two carbonate systems were demonstrably active on the southern Caribbean margin: the Upper Oligocene–Lower Miocene Perla–Coral ramp in the Gulf of Venezuela and the Aquitanian–Burdigalian San Luis and Churuguara banks of Falcón. The Seroe Domi carbonates that cap Aruba and Curaçao are younger, so the ABC islands are process analogues for Perla, not a synchronous reservoir fairway. Bonaire is the one island where a Lower–Middle Miocene platform may overlap the Perla time window, and its age is poorly constrained. Contents: a regional time-stratigraphic correlation from Coro/Falcón through Perla–Coral to Aruba, Curaçao and Bonaire on the ICS v2024/12 timescale (Figure 1); an Early Miocene (c. 20 Ma) palaeogeologic map in a South America-fixed frame with an illustrative 360–400 km westward scalar restoration of the island blocks from published 18–20 mm/yr Caribbean–South America rates (Figure 2); a discussion of plate-motion restoration limits; petroleum exploration implications; an evidence register (FACT · MISSING · GLIAG JUDGEMENT · TRIGGER); and a 26-item reference annex. Revision 1.1 supersedes Version 1.0 of the same date. It corrects the Bonaire interval (Lower–Middle Miocene aggradational platform after Laya et al. 2018, replacing an Eocene/hiatus reading), the plate-rate sources (Weber et al. 2001; Pérez et al. 2018), the Oligocene base (33.9 Ma), figure labels and positions, and the reference list; a 13-row amendment register documents every change. The map is a scenario-scale illustration, not a plate-model solution. Web edition: Petroleum & Energy Insights.