Palaeocene to middle Eocene flysch-wildflysch deposits of the Caribbean area: a chronological compilation of literature reports, implications for tectonic history and recommendations for further investigation

Literature reports upper Cretaceous to Middle Eocene flysch/wildflysch deposits from Mexico, Guatemala, Jamaica, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Barbados, Granada, Trinidad, Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. Early papers recording their widespread distribution and noting their tectonic implications are often overlooked by popular palaeogeographic and plate tectonic reconstructions of the Caribbean area. Detailed stratigraphic revision of some units has restricted their age of accumulation to the Palaeocene Middle Eocene or to the K/T boundary event. Most of the deposits record violent interaction between the Caribbean and adjacent continental areas. They are classically attributed to a ‘Laramide (Incaic) Orogeny’. An alternative explanation is that they record one or more impacts of extraterrestrial matter. Units that have not received recent stratigraphic study should be revisited. A possible impact crater in the Venezuelan Basin requires investigation.