Citable edition with DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.24053231 (Revision 1.1, 8 November 2026, CC BY-NC-ND 4.0).
Download the PDF (10 pages)
Cite as: Chin-A-Lien, M. P. T. (2026). Regional correlation and Early Miocene paleogeology: Coro/Falcón, Perla–Coral, Aruba, Curaçao and Bonaire. GLIAG-GIP-ESSAY-2026-1108-BON-005, Revision 1.1. Petroleum & Energy Insights, 8 November 2026. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.24053231
Companion essay: Exploring the Carbonate Paleohigh Corridor in the Southern Caribbean.
Drs. M.P.T. Chin-A-Lien, MBA, M.Sc., Ing. Geologist · Golden Lane Investments Advisory Group (GLIAG), Zoetermeer & Paramaribo · ORCID iD 0009-0007-1649-602X
Coro / Falcón | Perla–Coral | Aruba | Curaçao | Bonaire
In brief
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.
This essay sets out that correlation as a regional chronostratigraphic section (Figure 1) and a time-specific palaeogeologic map (Figure 2). It continues the author’s Exploring the Carbonate Paleohigh Corridor in the Southern Caribbean (Petroleum & Energy Insights, 29 October 2026) and the Bonaire Basin study Two Clocks Beneath the Leeward Antilles. Revision 1.1 corrects the Bonaire interval, the plate-rate sources and the reference list of Version 1.0; the amendment register lists every change.
Executive interpretation
This revision presents the correlation in the format of a regional chronostratigraphic section and a time-specific palaeogeologic map. The section runs west-to-east schematically from Coro/Falcón through Perla–Coral and the ABC blocks to Bonaire. Stippled ties mark age boundaries and broad age overlap; they do not declare formation equivalence. Published evidence supports Early Miocene carbonate platforms in Falcón (San Luis and Churuguara, dated Aquitanian–Burdigalian by miogypsinid assemblages; Albert-Villanueva et al., 2025) and the Upper Oligocene–Lower Miocene Perla ramp, but the Seroe Domi record on the ABC islands is younger and varies by locality. On Bonaire the lowest carbonate episode is an aggradational platform assigned to the Lower–Middle Miocene (Laya et al., 2018), so a platform there at c. 20 Ma is possible but poorly dated. A single c. 20 Ma map should therefore show exposed Cretaceous/Paleogene substrate on Aruba and Curaçao, mark Bonaire as uncertain, and not paint Seroe Domi as an already-established Early Miocene sheet.
The Early Miocene palaeogeologic map is plotted in a South America-fixed reference frame. It shows an illustrative c. 360–400 km westward scalar shift for the island blocks, calculated from the GPS-derived Caribbean–South America rate of 18–20 mm/yr (Weber et al., 2001; Pérez et al., 2018) over 20 Myr, only to communicate the scale of the author-specified westward restoration. This is not a plate-model solution: individual block rotations, accretion ages and fault motion remain unresolved, so map locations are envelopes and conceptual positions rather than exact restored coordinates. The frame also holds Paraguaná, Guajira and the Perla–Coral high at their modern positions, although they lie north of the Oca–Ancón fault system; that is an assumption, not a result.
The Perla–Coral concept follows Pinto et al.’s integration of cores, thin sections, logs and seismic (about 1,875 ft of core from wells W-2, W-3, W-4 and WG-1, with 260 thin sections; Pinto et al., 2015): red-algal and larger-foraminiferal ramps developed around subsiding basement highs, with resedimented carbonate and calcareous shale in intervening lows. Falcón offers an Early Miocene process and facies comparison, but the 2025 study documents material differences in thickness, spatial extent and stacking: the San Luis and Churuguara platforms are aggradational, whereas the Perla carbonates are interpreted as retrogradational. The ABC islands provide younger carbonate-platform analogues, not a directly synchronous Perla reservoir fairway.
1. Regional time-stratigraphic correlation
The section deliberately keeps stratigraphy and tectonics separate. Coro/Falcón Lower Miocene bank carbonates are formally San Luis and Churuguara; Perla Limestone is a subsurface Gulf of Venezuela unit; Seroe Domi is a younger carbonate cover on the islands. These names must not be substituted for one another. At c. 20 Ma, the strongest age overlap is between active Perla deposition and the Aquitanian–Burdigalian Falcón carbonate banks. The documented Curaçao Seroe Domi succession begins in the Middle Miocene (its lower subunit, deposited in water deeper than 500 m) and its younger coralgal intervals extend into Pliocene time (Fouke et al., 1996). On Bonaire, Laya et al. (2018) place an aggradational platform at the base of the Neogene carbonate succession in the Lower–Middle Miocene, beneath the Miocene–Pliocene progradational platform that was later dolomitised (Laya et al., 2021); Aruba also shows spatially variable Miocene–Pliocene platform records. The time tie is therefore diachronous and incomplete, and Bonaire is the only island where it may reach the Early Miocene.
2. Early Miocene palaeogeologic map
At c. 20 Ma the map shows active Falcón and Perla carbonate systems against older island basement on Aruba and Curaçao, and a possible but poorly dated platform on the Bonaire block; later Seroe Domi cover is omitted from the time slice.
3. Plate-motion restoration and uncertainty
The published Caribbean–South America relative-motion estimate of roughly 18–20 mm/yr is a present-day GPS rate: about 20 mm/yr in Weber et al. (2001), and 18–20 mm/yr observed on Aruba and Curaçao in Pérez et al. (2018). Magnani et al. (2009), citing earlier plate models, describe Caribbean motion relative to South America as substantially constant since the Eocene. It therefore applies as an Eocene-to-present reference-frame scale, not as one constant vector from the Upper Cretaceous. Multiplying by 20 Myr gives 360–400 km; multiplying by 55 Myr gives 990–1,100 km. These are scalar distances, not precise island displacements.
The ABC terranes have different basement histories, fault-bounded blocks and diachronous accretion and exhumation (Beardsley & Avé Lallemant, 2007; van der Lelij et al., 2010). Late Cretaceous reconstructions place parts of the Caribbean margin west of Guajira and describe northeastward migration and large block rotations (Wright & Wyld, 2011); subsequent east–southeastward motion and collision cannot be collapsed to one straight translation. Fault-kinematic data on the islands record several Neogene–Quaternary deformation phases (Hippolyte & Mann, 2011).
The westward positions on Figure 2 are consequently a clearly labelled scenario-scale restoration. For an operational GPlates result: select a South America-fixed reconstruction; assign plate IDs and Euler rotations to Aruba, Curaçao and Bonaire separately; restore the Coro/Falcón and Perla–Coral markers, Paraguaná and Guajira in the same frame; compare rigid-block and deforming-polygon reconstructions; publish alternative restoration envelopes. The available northern Andes–Caribbean GPlates dataset (Montes et al., 2019b, documented in Montes et al., 2019a) has explicit rigid-block files for the last 90 Ma and a continuously closing polygon network resolved for the last 65 Ma, but the chosen block assignment and deformation model still control the result.
4. Petroleum exploration implications
- Analogue ranking. Perla is the closest subsurface carbonate-ramp analogue for facies and seismic architecture (Pomar et al., 2015). San Luis and Churuguara are valuable onshore analogues for Lower Miocene carbonate–siliciclastic interaction and sequence architecture, but published work cautions that their thickness and geometry differ from Perla. Seroe Domi is a younger process and diagenesis analogue, especially for platform margin, dolomitisation and exposure effects.
- Correlation control. Obtain independent larger-foraminiferal biostratigraphy, nannofossils, planktonic foraminifera, palynology and Sr-isotope ages. Do not use algal assemblages alone to establish stage equivalence. Tie core and outcrop to seismic sequence boundaries and unconformities. The Bonaire Lower–Middle Miocene platform is the first interval to date.
- Play prediction. Map inherited basement highs, fault-block shoulders, ramp aprons, basin-floor resedimented carbonates, shale-prone troughs, seals and later structural overprint (Moscariello et al., 2018). Test whether any Bonaire Basin target shares the required depositional age, geometry and burial history before importing Perla reservoir parameters.
- Another Perla? Possible as a high-impact exploration hypothesis, but not established by this regional correlation. The evidence raises testable play concepts; it does not demonstrate a Perla-age reservoir, connected source kitchen, charge, trap integrity, recoverable volume or commercial discovery in Bonaire.
| Evidence register · FACT · MISSING · GLIAG JUDGEMENT · TRIGGER |
| FACT | San Luis and Churuguara are Early Miocene (Aquitanian–Burdigalian) and aggradational; Perla is Upper Oligocene–Lower Miocene and retrogradational (Albert-Villanueva et al., 2025). Curaçao Seroe Domi Subunit 1 is Middle Miocene and deep-water; Subunit 2 is Upper Miocene–Pliocene (Fouke et al., 1996). Bonaire’s lowest Neogene carbonate is a Lower–Middle Miocene aggradational platform (Laya et al., 2018). Present Caribbean–South America motion is 18–20 mm/yr (Weber et al., 2001; Pérez et al., 2018). |
| MISSING | An independent age for the base of the Bonaire platform; block-specific Euler poles for Aruba, Curaçao, Bonaire, Paraguaná and Guajira; licensed well and seismic ties between Perla–Coral and the Bonaire Basin; and the full text of the Morillo & Vera (2015) red-algae biostratigraphy. |
| GLIAG JUDGEMENT | GLIAG’s view is that the c. 20 Ma carbonate fairway is proven only in the Gulf of Venezuela and Falcón. Bonaire is the single island where an Early Miocene platform could exist, which makes it the priority dating target, not a proven Perla equivalent. |
| TRIGGER | A Sr-isotope or larger-foraminiferal age older than 16 Ma for the Bonaire basal platform; a GPlates block restoration that moves the islands outside the envelopes of Figure 2; or a Bonaire Basin well that penetrates Lower Miocene carbonate. |
Amendment register, Revision 1.1
Changes from Version 1.0 are limited to factual corrections, source completion, figure legibility and protocol matter. The interpretation and structure of Version 1.0 are retained.
| # | Location | Version 1.0 | Revision 1.1 | Basis |
| 1 | Executive interpretation; §1; Fig. 1 | Bonaire 16–23 Ma shown as “Eocene Soebi Blanco clastics; hiatus”; ABC islands as not Early Miocene | Bonaire Lower–Middle Miocene aggradational platform, onset poorly dated; Curaçao and Aruba statements kept | Laya et al. (2018) |
| 2 | Fig. 2 and key | Bonaire block shown as basement only | Bonaire block shown as possible, poorly dated platform | Laya et al. (2018) |
| 3 | Executive interpretation; §3 | Rate 18–20 mm/yr without source; “present/Eocene-to-present” | Rate sourced to GPS studies; Eocene-to-present constancy attributed | Weber et al. (2001); Pérez et al. (2018); Magnani et al. (2009) |
| 4 | Executive interpretation; Fig. 2 | Frame assumption not stated | Paraguaná, Guajira and Perla held at modern positions stated as an assumption | Oca–Ancón fault geometry |
| 5 | Executive interpretation | “c. 350–400 km” | “c. 360–400 km”, consistent with §3 | Arithmetic |
| 6 | Fig. 1 | Base Oligocene “34 Ma”; overlapping labels in lower boxes | 33.9 Ma; labels legible; c. 20 Ma slice marked | ICS chart v2024/12 |
| 7 | Fig. 2 | “San Luis Fm.” hidden by Perla ellipse; Paraguaná label overlapped and drawn west of Perla; empty margins | Redrawn: labels clear, Paraguaná east of Perla, Oca–Ancón trace added, tighter layout | Visual check |
| 8 | Wording | “user-requested”; footer “Proprietary geological interpretation” | “author-specified”; CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 footer with DOI | GLIAG protocol |
| 9 | References 1–4 | Beardsley “et al.”; Ref. 2 credited to Montes et al.; Magnani and van der Lelij titles shortened | Beardsley & Avé Lallemant; Wright & Wyld; full titles and DOIs | Publisher records |
| 10 | References 7, 9, 10, 13–18 | Merged ICVGAS/Bathurst item; short titles; Curet “A.”; Hippolyte & Mann pp. 75–93; Laya 2020; datapages link (403) | Split into two items; full titles; Curet E.; pp. 259–277; Laya 2021, MPG 126; DOI links | Publisher records |
| 11 | Reference 21 | Link to a private chat library file | Described as unpublished UCV thesis supplied by the author; no public URL | Privacy |
| 12 | New references | — | Weber 2001; Pérez 2018; Montes 2019a, 2019b; GLIAG companion essays | Source support for §3 |
| 13 | Front and back matter | Cover and five text pages; large blank area on page 2 | Protocol front matter, DOI, evidence register, author and legal blocks; A4 portrait text pages; figures on A4 landscape pages | GLIAG protocol |
References
1. Albert-Villanueva, E. (2016). Facies y secuencias deposicionales mixtas carbonático-siliciclásticas del Mioceno inferior de la cuenca de Falcón (Venezuela). PhD thesis, Universitat de Barcelona. hdl.handle.net/2445/103166
2. Albert-Villanueva, E., González, L., Bover-Arnal, T., Ferràndez-Cañadell, C., Esteban, M., Fernández-Carmona, J., Calvo, R. & Salas, R. (2017). Geology of the Falcón Basin (NW Venezuela). Journal of Maps 13(2), 491–501. doi.org/10.1080/17445647.2017.1333969
3. Albert-Villanueva, E., Bover-Arnal, T., Ferràndez-Cañadell, C., González, L., Esteban, M. & Salas, R. (2025). Lower Miocene carbonate platforms of the Falcón Basin (NW Venezuela) compared to the offshore Perla Field reservoir. Geologica Acta 23.21, 1–44. doi.org/10.1344/GeologicaActa2025.23.21
4. Beardsley, A.G. & Avé Lallemant, H.G. (2007). Oblique collision and accretion of the Netherlands Leeward Antilles to South America. Tectonics 26(2), TC2001. doi.org/10.1029/2006TC002028
5. Curet, E. (1992). Stratigraphy and evolution of the Tertiary Aruba Basin. Journal of Petroleum Geology 15(2), 283–304. doi.org/10.1111/j.1747-5457.1992.tb00873.x
6. Díaz, N., Tang, G., Pinto, D. et al. (2014). Sequence stratigraphic analysis to define the spatial and temporal distribution of the petroleum system in Gulf of Venezuela. I Congreso Venezolano de Gas Natural (ICVGAS), Visión Tecnológica 16(1). Conference paper, author upload. www.researchgate.net/publication/271209250_SEQUENCE_STRATIGRAPHIC_ANALYSIS_TO_DEFINE_THE_SPATIAL_AN_TEMPORAL_DISTRIBUTION_OF_THE_PETROLEUM_SYSTEM_IN_GULF_OF_VENEZUELA
7. Fouke, B.W., Beets, C.J., Meyers, W.J., Hanson, G.N. & Melillo, A.J. (1996). 87Sr/86Sr chronostratigraphy and dolomitization history of the Seroe Domi Formation, Curaçao (Netherlands Antilles). Facies 35, 293–320. doi.org/10.1007/BF02536966
8. Hippolyte, J.-C. & Mann, P. (2011). Neogene–Quaternary tectonic evolution of the Leeward Antilles islands (Aruba, Bonaire, Curaçao) from fault kinematic analysis. Marine and Petroleum Geology 28(1), 259–277. doi.org/10.1016/j.marpetgeo.2009.06.010
9. International Commission on Stratigraphy (2024). International Chronostratigraphic Chart, v2024/12. stratigraphy.org/ICSchart/ChronostratChart2024-12.pdf
10. Laya, J.C., Sulaica, J., Teoh, C.P., Whitaker, F., Gabellone, T., Tucker, M. et al. (2018). Controls on Neogene carbonate facies and stratigraphic architecture of an isolated carbonate platform: the Caribbean island of Bonaire. Marine and Petroleum Geology 94, 1–18. doi.org/10.1016/j.marpetgeo.2018.03.031
11. Laya, J.C., Teoh, C.P., Whitaker, F., Manche, C., Kaczmarek, S., Tucker, M., Gabellone, T. & Hasiuk, F. (2021). Dolomitization of a Miocene–Pliocene progradational carbonate platform by mesohaline brines: re-examination of the reflux model on Bonaire Island. Marine and Petroleum Geology 126, 104895. doi.org/10.1016/j.marpetgeo.2020.104895
12. Magnani, M.B., Zelt, C.A., Levander, A. & Schmitz, M. (2009). Crustal structure of the South American–Caribbean plate boundary at 67°W from controlled source seismic data. Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth 114, B02312. doi.org/10.1029/2008JB005817
13. Montes, C., Rodriguez-Corcho, A.F., Bayona, G., Hoyos, N., Zapata, S. & Cardona, A. (2019a). Continental margin response to multiple arc-continent collisions: the northern Andes–Caribbean margin. Earth-Science Reviews 198, 102903. doi.org/10.1016/j.earscirev.2019.102903
14. Montes, C., Rodriguez-Corcho, A.F., Bayona, G., Hoyos, N., Zapata, S. & Cardona, A. (2019b). GPlates dataset for the tectonic reconstruction of the Northern Andes–Caribbean Margin. Data in Brief 25, 104398. doi.org/10.1016/j.dib.2019.104398
15. Morillo, Y.G. & Vera, S. (2015). Estudio bioestratigráfico de algas rojas en el intervalo Oligo-Mioceno, pozos Perla y Coral, Golfo de Venezuela. Undergraduate thesis, Universidad Central de Venezuela; unpublished, supplied by the author, no public URL.
16. Moscariello, A., Pinto, D. & Agate, M. (2018). Revisited play concept for distally-steepened carbonate ramps: the relevance of sediment density flows in the stratigraphic record. AAPG Annual Convention 2018, Search and Discovery Article #51514. www.searchanddiscovery.com/documents/2018/51514moscariello/ndx_moscariello.pdf
17. Pérez, O.J., Wesnousky, S.G., De La Rosa, R., Márquez, J., Uzcátegui, R., Quintero, C., Liberal, L., Mora-Páez, H. & Szeliga, W. (2018). On the interaction of the North Andes plate with the Caribbean and South American plates in northwestern South America from GPS geodesy and seismic data. Geophysical Journal International 214(3), 1986–2001. doi.org/10.1093/gji/ggy230
18. Pinto, D., Moreno, N. & Padrón, V. (2013). Global sea-level changes and sedimentological characterization of Cretaceous carbonate deposits in Gulf of Venezuela. 30th IAS Meeting of Sedimentology. Conference abstract, author upload. www.researchgate.net/publication/271210793_Global_sea_level_changes_and_sedimentological_characterization_of_Cretaceous_carbonate_deposits_in_Gulf_of
19. Pinto, D., Díaz, N., Tang, G., Arends, A., Ramírez, R., Pomar, L. & Padrón, V. (2014). Interpretación de rampas carbonáticas asociadas a paleoislas durante el Oligoceno–Mioceno en el Golfo de Venezuela. Caso de estudio: Campo Perla. Memorias del I Congreso Venezolano de Gas Natural (ICVGAS), Porlamar, 24–28 November 2014. No public URL located.
20. Pinto, D. et al. (2015). Carbonate ramps interpretation associated to palaeo-islands in Caribbean Sea (Gulf of Venezuela) during Oligocene–Miocene. Case study: Perla Giant Gasfield. 15th Bathurst Meeting of Carbonate Sedimentologists, University of Edinburgh, July 2015. Conference abstract, author upload. www.researchgate.net/publication/279930261_Carbonate_ramps_interpretation_associated_to_palaeo-islands_in_Caribbean_Sea_Gulf_of_Venezuela_during_Oligocene-Miocene_Case_Study_Perla_Giant_Gasfield
21. Pinto, D. et al. (2015). Poster: Perla Gasfield sedimentological model, offshore Venezuela. Conference poster, author upload. www.researchgate.net/publication/279994103_Poster_PERLA_GASFIELD_SEDIMENTOLOGICAL_MODEL_OFFSHORE_VENEZUELA
22. Pomar, L., Esteban, M., Martinez, W., Espino, D., Castillo de Ott, V., Benkovics, L. & Castro Leyva, T. (2015). Oligocene–Miocene carbonates of the Perla Field, offshore Venezuela: depositional model and facies architecture. In: Bartolini, C. & Mann, P. (eds), Petroleum Geology and Potential of the Colombian Caribbean Margin. AAPG Memoir 108, 647–673. doi.org/10.1306/13531952M1083655
23. TNO – Geological Survey of the Netherlands (TNO-GDN). Geological map of the Netherlands, the Dutch Continental Shelf and the Caribbean part of the Kingdom (DINOloket). www.dinoloket.nl/en/geological-map
24. van der Lelij, R., Spikings, R.A., Kerr, A.C., Kounov, A., Cosca, M., Chew, D. & Villagomez, D. (2010). Thermochronology and tectonics of the Leeward Antilles: evolution of the southern Caribbean Plate boundary zone. Tectonics 29(6), TC6003. doi.org/10.1029/2009TC002654
25. Weber, J.C., Dixon, T.H., DeMets, C., Ambeh, W.B., Jansma, P., Mattioli, G., Saleh, J., Sella, G., Bilham, R. & Pérez, O. (2001). GPS estimate of relative motion between the Caribbean and South American plates, and geologic implications for Trinidad and Venezuela. Geology 29(1), 75–78. doi.org/10.1130/0091-7613(2001)029%3C0075:GEORMB%3E2.0.CO;2
26. Wright, J.E. & Wyld, S.J. (2011). Late Cretaceous subduction initiation on the eastern margin of the Caribbean–Colombian Oceanic Plateau: one Great Arc of the Caribbean (?). Geosphere 7(2), 468–493. doi.org/10.1130/GES00577.1
Source-selection note. The bibliography includes all theme-relevant, publicly traceable Disnahir Pinto items located for this revision (Cretaceous carbonate and sea-level study; ICVGAS sequence-stratigraphy and palaeo-island-ramp contributions; the Bathurst abstract; the Perla poster; and the 2018 AAPG ramp-process paper). Where an online item is an author-uploaded conference paper or poster rather than a peer-reviewed article, it is labelled accordingly and interpreted at that evidence level.
Interpretive limit. Both figures are conceptual regional syntheses. No unlicensed well or seismic database, digital island geology layer or Euler-pole rotation solution was used to generate map polygons. Prospect-scale use requires primary data, independent age control and a reproducible block-by-block restoration.
Related GLIAG work
Chin-A-Lien, M. P. T. (2026). Exploring the Carbonate Paleohigh Corridor in the Southern Caribbean. Petroleum & Energy Insights, 29 October 2026. Available at https://petroleumenergyinsights.com/exploring-the-carbonate-paleohigh-corridor-in-the-southern-caribbean/
Chin-A-Lien, M. P. T. (2026). Two Clocks Beneath the Leeward Antilles: Petroleum Systems and Potential of the Bonaire Basin. Revision 1.1. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.23771523
Chin-A-Lien, M. P. T. (2026). The Earth Remembers. Coral Above the Sea. Curaçao, Bonaire and Aruba. Revision 1.0. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.23962866
Chin-A-Lien, M. P. T. (2026). Maracaibo Continued: Generation and Migration of Hydrocarbons, Revisited after 42 Years (1984–2026). Revision 1.1. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.23887976
Integrity, authorship and licence
Integrity and AI statement. The interpretation, the correlation and the westward-restoration scenario are the author’s. Revision 1.1 was prepared with AI assistance (Perplexity Computer) for reference verification, correction of the text against the cited sources, redrawing of Figures 1 and 2 from the Version 1.0 originals, and layout. Every factual statement was checked against the linked sources on 8 November 2026; no well, seismic or proprietary data were used. No Witness paragraph is included because none was supplied for this essay.
Drs. M.P.T. Chin-A-Lien, MBA, M.Sc., Ing. Geologist. Certified Petroleum Geologist Nr. 5201-1996 (AAPG) · Chartered European Geologist Nr. 92-1996 (EFG) · Energy Negotiator, June 2021 (AIEN). Principal Founding Partner & Chief Architect, Golden Lane Investments Advisory Group B.V. (GLIAG), Zoetermeer & Paramaribo · petroleumenergyinsights.com · ORCID 0009-0007-1649-602X. Petroleum and energy adviser with nearly five decades of international experience; co-discoverer of the Ceuta field in Lake Maracaibo; originator of the term Golden Lane for the Guyana–Suriname Basin (2008); consultant to Staatsolie in 2008–2010.
GLIAG (Golden Lane Investments Advisory Group) is an independent petroleum, energy and strategic-advisory practice based in Zoetermeer and Paramaribo. It acts as Owner’s Engineer, PMC and strategic adviser to governments, national oil companies, development-finance institutions and investors, and publishes its research through the GLIAG GSB Intelligence Platform (GIP), Zenodo and Petroleum & Energy Insights. GLIAG is not a sponsor, bidder or equity holder in any licence discussed here.
Disclaimer and legal notice
1. No advice. This essay is published for information, education and research. It is not investment, legal or engineering advice; no party should rely on it for decisions without independent verification.
2. No offer or solicitation. Nothing in this essay is an offer, solicitation or recommendation to buy, sell or hold any security, licence, block or interest.
3. Independence of analysis. The analysis is the author’s own, based on the public sources cited. Interpretations of third-party work are the author’s and may differ from the original authors’ views.
4. Forward-looking statements. Statements about exploration potential, plays or future drilling are judgements subject to uncertainty and may not come true.
Copyright, licence and intellectual property. © 2026 Marcel P.T. Chin-A-Lien and GLIAG. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International licence (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0), creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0. The cover artwork GLIAGOGRAPH-GIP-2026-1108-ABC-001 is proprietary GLIAG artwork and is excluded from the CC licence; reproduction requires written permission. Golden Lane™ and GLIAGOGRAPH™ are GLIAG trademarks. Under Article 4(3) of Directive (EU) 2019/790 and Article 15o of the Dutch Auteurswet, the rightsholder expressly reserves this work from text and data mining, including the training of artificial-intelligence models, without prior written permission. Correspondence: info@gliag.com.
Suggested citation. Chin-A-Lien, M. P. T. (2026). Regional correlation and Early Miocene paleogeology: Coro/Falcón, Perla–Coral, Aruba, Curaçao and Bonaire. GLIAG-GIP-ESSAY-2026-1108-BON-005, Revision 1.1. Petroleum & Energy Insights, 8 November 2026. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.24053231. Available at https://petroleumenergyinsights.com/regional-correlation-early-miocene-paleogeology-coro-perla-abc/
Converting bare headlines into deep strategic, added value
GLIAG · Where Information Becomes Intelligence
Soso Lobi
GLIAG · Zoetermeer & Paramaribo · 8 November 2026
