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Analysis of institutional authors

Najarro, MCorresponding Author

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October 18, 2022
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Unusual concentration of Early Albian arthropod-bearing amber in the Basque-Cantabrian Basin (El Soplao, Cantabria, Northern Spain): Palaeoenvironmental and palaeobiological implications

Publicated to: GEOLOGICA ACTA. 7 (3): 363-387 - 2009-09-01 7(3), DOI: 10.1344/105.000001443

Authors:

Najarro, M; Penalver, E; Rosales, I; Perez-De La Fuente, R; Daviero-Gomez, V; Gomez, B; Delclos, X
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Affiliations

Inst Geol & Minero Espana, Madrid 28003, Spain - Author
Univ Barcelona, Dept Estratig Paleontol & Geociencies Marines, Barcelona 08071, Spain - Author
Univ Lyon 1, CNRS, UMR 5125 PEPS, F-69622 Villeurbanne, France - Author
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Abstract

The El Soplao site is a recently-discovered Early Albian locality of the Basque-Cantabrian Basin (northern Spain) that has yielded a number of amber pieces with abundant bioinclusions. The amber-bearing deposit occurs in a non-marine to transitional marine siliciclastic unit (Las Penosas Formation) that is interleaved within a regressive-transgressive, carbonate-dominated Lower Aptian-Upper Albian marine sequence. The Las Penosas Formation corresponds to the regressive stage of this sequence and in its turn it splits into two smaller regressive-transgressive cycles. The coal and amber-bearing deposits occur in deltaic-estuarine environments developed during the maximum regressive episodes of these smaller regressive-transgressive cycles. The El Soplao amber shows Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy spectra similar to other Spanish Cretaceous ambers and it is characterized by the profusion of sub-aerial, stalactite-like flows. Well-preserved plant cuticles assigned to the conifer genera Frenelopsis and Mirovia are abundant in the beds associated with amber. Leaves of the ginkgoalean genera Nehvizdya and Pseudotorellia also occur occasionally. Bioinclusions mainly consist of fossil insects of the orders Blattaria, Hemiptera, Thysanoptera, Raphidioptera, Neuroptera, Coleoptera, Hymenoptera and Diptera, although some spiders and spider webs have been observed as well. Some insects belong to groups scarce in the fossil record, such as a new morphotype of the wasp Archaeromma (of the family Mymarommatidae) and the biting midge Lebanoculicoides (of the monogeneric subfamily Lebanoculicoidinae). This new amber locality constitutes a very significant finding that will contribute to improving the knowledge and comprehension of the Albian non-marine paleoarthropod fauna.
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Keywords

Arthropod bioinclusionsClassificationCretaceous amberCyclesDepositsEstuaryFacies modelFossil resinLower albianPlant cuticlesRiverSpainStratigraphyValley-fillVariability

Quality index

Bibliometric impact. Analysis of the contribution and dissemination channel

The work has been published in the journal GEOLOGICA ACTA due to its progression and the good impact it has achieved in recent years, according to the agency Scopus (SJR), it has become a reference in its field. In the year of publication of the work, 2009, it was in position , thus managing to position itself as a Q1 (Primer Cuartil), in the category Geology. Notably, the journal is positioned above the 90th percentile.

Independientemente del impacto esperado determinado por el canal de difusión, es importante destacar el impacto real observado de la propia aportación.

Según las diferentes agencias de indexación, el número de citas acumuladas por esta publicación hasta la fecha 2026-04-26:

  • Dialnet Métricas: 2
  • WoS: 79
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Impact and social visibility

From the perspective of influence or social adoption, and based on metrics associated with mentions and interactions provided by agencies specializing in calculating the so-called "Alternative or Social Metrics," we can highlight as of 2026-04-26:

  • The use, from an academic perspective evidenced by the Altmetric agency indicator referring to aggregations made by the personal bibliographic manager Mendeley, gives us a total of: 50.
  • The use of this contribution in bookmarks, code forks, additions to favorite lists for recurrent reading, as well as general views, indicates that someone is using the publication as a basis for their current work. This may be a notable indicator of future more formal and academic citations. This claim is supported by the result of the "Capture" indicator, which yields a total of: 50 (PlumX).

With a more dissemination-oriented intent and targeting more general audiences, we can observe other more global scores such as:

  • The Total Score from Altmetric: 3.
  • The number of mentions on Wikipedia: 2 (Altmetric).

It is essential to present evidence supporting full alignment with institutional principles and guidelines on Open Science and the Conservation and Dissemination of Intellectual Heritage. A clear example of this is:

  • The work has been submitted to a journal whose editorial policy allows open Open Access publication.
  • Additionally, the work has been submitted to a journal classified as Diamond in relation to this type of editorial policy.
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Leadership analysis of institutional authors

This work has been carried out with international collaboration, specifically with researchers from: France.

There is a significant leadership presence as some of the institution’s authors appear as the first or last signer, detailed as follows: First Author (Najarro de la Parra, María) .

the author responsible for correspondence tasks has been Najarro de la Parra, María.

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Awards linked to the item

This work is part of the Ph.D. Thesis of the first author (M.N.),who is supported by a scholarship from the Instituto Geologico y Minero de Espa a (IGME), and the Ph.D. Thesis of a co-author (R.P.F., palaeobiology), funded by an APIF grant of the University of Barcelona. This study is a contribution of the IGME projects 275-CANOA 35006 "Relacion entre sedimentacion tectonica y flujo de fluidos durante la extension del Cretacico Inferior en la Cuenca de Santander"; 491-CANOA 35015 "Investigacion cientifica y tecnica de la Cueva de El Soplao y su entorno geologico", and the projects CGL2008-00550/BTE and CGL2008-01237/BTE. The study is framed in a collaborative agreement among IGME, SIEC S. A. and the Cantabrian Government (Regional Cultural, Tourism and Sports Ministry). We are grateful to Jose Pedro Calvo Sorando (IGME) for his support and engagement. We also express our thanks to Francisco Javier Lopez Marcano (Regional Minister of the Cantabrian Government) and Fermin Unzue (manager of the El Soplao Cave) for their efforts and promotion of the study of the new outcrop. One of the coauthors (E. P.) benefited from a "Ramon y Cajal" contract of the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation. B.G. also received support from the CNRS-UMR 5125 PEPS and the project ANR AMBRACE (No BLAN07-1184190) of the French National Research Agency (L'Agence Nationale de la Recherche). The authors thank the editor for his patient and constructive reviews and Cynthia Voelker for the final review of the English writing. The manuscript benefited greatly from corrections and improvements by C. Labandeira and R. Salas.
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