Saeed S. Alshahrani

I. Introduction, Literature Review, and Hypothesis
According to the Dictionary of Science and Technology, Black Shale is “thinly bedded shale that is rich in carbon, sulfide, and organic material; formed by anaerobic decay of matter. Moreover, “According to the Glossary of Geology, 4th edition, Black Shale is “a dark, thinly laminated carbonaceous shale, exceptionally rich in organic matter (5% or more carbon content) and sulfide (especially. Iron sulfide, usually pyrite), and more commonly containing unusual concentrations of certain trace elements (Uranium, Vanadium, Copper, Nickel).” Fossil organisms are commonly well maintained as a graphitic or carbonaceous item or pyrite replacements.
Black Shale is commonly fine-grained sedimentary rock which is formed from two essential minerals, silt and clay, and we usually call it mud. Black Shale is a kind of Mudstone, but it can be distinguished from other types of Mudstone because Black Shale is fissile and laminated. Oil shale is usually districted as a fine-grained sedimentary rock which contains organic matter. This rock returns significant amounts of oil and ignitable gas. The majority of the biological material is insoluble in ordinary organic solvents; therefore, it has to be disintegrated by roasting to release such materials. Essentially, most definitions of oil shale are related to its importance for the economic recovery of energy such as shale oil and ignitable gas. A deposit of oil shale having commercial possibility is generally one that is at or around the surface to be technologically advanced by open-pit or common underground mining or in-situ methods (Dyni, 2006).
Black Shale has taken a long time to be understood until the mid-1970s. The history of Black Shale investigation started only with the collection of data from outcrop observations. This information created difficult situations for the biological interpretation and the factors which formed and controlled the organic materials. According to Schott et al., (1978) current investigations of eastern black shale, particularly the Chattanooga Shale and its correlatives of Late Devonian and Mississippian ages, as a source of gas, are producing a new generation of data; and the time is appropriate to consider the processes involved in the accumulation of black shale. Tourtelot (1979) believed that recently, however, a growing body of chemical data on the biological as well as the non-biological compositions of black shale has broadened the opportunity of inferences that can be drawn on the creation of such rocks. In the early 1970s, as the oil industries started to do the deep-sea well logs, scientists and investigators started to analyze and interpret the organic matter from their environments.
The Devonian Ohio Black Shale has taken the scientific concentration for a long time. Scientists and geologists have been trying to find out the hidden issues of this geological unit from different aspects: economical, geological, and chemical fields. Geologists have started to consider for the Devonian Black Shale since the mid-18th century. Newberry (1970) studied the progress of the geology of Ohio in general. He also conducted, in the late 1800’s, many studies concentrating on the Ohio geological structures. Winchell (1874) & Hicks (1878) tried to study the geological map of the middle of Ohio.
Early in the last century, geologists started to study the geology of Ohio extensively. Carney (1909) evaluated the stratigraphy of Licking County. Then, Prosser (1912 & 1913) tried to study the Devonian formation especially Huron and Cleveland Black Shale of Northern Ohio. When the oil companies started to explore for oil and gas, Black Shale took a place of concentration. Cushing (1912) tried to find the age of the Cleveland Black Shale, whereas Ashley (1917) reported an estimation of the Oil resources of the Black Shale of the eastern United States. The correlation of the Devonian Black Shale in Ohio and Pennsylvania was started in 1910s. Verviebe (1917) tried to study the southeastern Ohio and northwestern Pennsylvania to draw stratigraphic column because of the symmetric properties. The sedimentary stratigraphy of the Devonian Black Shale was started early the last century by (Kindle, 1912), then Roen (1981), and Broadhead (1982) had the same situation for the regional stratigraphy of Ohio Black Shale. Much has been written about the depositional model of Devonian Black Shale. Hoover (1960), Swanson, (1961) Szmuc (1961), Janssens, (1969 & 1970), Conkin (1980), Potter (1980), Potter (1981), Ettenson (1981) Jordan (1980), Kopforlo (1984), Thomas (1988), Hancock (2000), Coogan (1996), &Dyni (2006) conducted significant works for understanding the Ohio Black Shale sequence. These works gave images for the Devonian Black shale depositional style, and they also analyzed its sequence from different locations with the few techniques.
On the other hand, fossils are rare in the more than 50% of Black Shale in the world that was deposited in shallow marine environments, and fishes just started at that time to appear. However, some geologists found few kinds of fossils and tried to date them using a biostratigraphy method, whereas some of them tried to correlate their fossils with other areas such as Pennsylvania or Ontario (Hlavian, 1976; Lewis, 1976; Denison, 1978; Hosterman, 1981; Chitaley, 1996; Yeager, 1996; & Chitalym, 2001).
As can be clearly seen, all of those studies are either old or deal with Devonian Shale in general. The Cleveland Black Shale has not been professionally studied. The purposes of my thesis is to better characterize the Cleveland Black Shale in terms of its sedimentological, stratigraphic, and pterophysical properties by three methods, all of which will be described in the next section. Furthermore, there is another purpose of my thesis, to identify the facies of Cleveland Black Shale in Northwest Ohio because it is necessary due to its large amount and size for the world’s energy supply.

II. Methodology

A. Measured Sections

a. Outcrop analysis
As I am going to study Ohio Black Shale from Cuyahoga County, there will be measurement of the Black Shale outcrop (in both fresh and weathered). There will be five field trips, at least, to study the area’s outcrop for facies observations and analysis. This analysis will help to investigate the area in both physical characteristics and biological features. The physical characteristics include lithology, sequence stratigraphy, sedimentary structures, nodules, fossil content, texture and composition, modifying clauses, and erosional and depositional systems. Moreover, I am going to find, if possible, the deformation and the biogenic structures. Then, I will obtain direct investigation based on the observation from the three methods. I am going to take a course in the next semester related to the “Analysis of Basin’s Sediments.” This course will be taught by Dr. James Evans, who is my thesis advisor, from the Geology department at Bowling Green State University. I will use the principles of basin sediments, as I study, to understand and interpret the data. I am going to use the Potter’s Scheme to define the grain size of the outcrop.

b. Well log
There will be another field trip to Columbus, Ohio. I will ask for permission from the Department of Natural resources, ODNR, at the Division of Natural Areas and Preserves, DNAP, to use the samples that were obtained from the core drilling. I am going to concentrate on the wells which are located in Cuyahoga County to obtain the well core logs. As I obtain all the data from more than one well, I am going to use this data to correlate these wells between each other to be able to draw a cross section. In addition, I am looking to study the dip and the strike to make a correlation with the outcrop data. As I am going to analyze the synthetic geophysical logs, I will obtain the lithofacies and the environmental deposition by using the physical and chemical characteristics. The goals from this method will be to interpret the thickness and geometry of the Black Shale, and I will use the Campbell Scheme for the shale geometry that has been recently published.

B. Petrology
As I am going to observe the field, I will collect some samples from the fresh and weathered Black Shale. These samples will be divided into two separate groups, all of which will be used in different method. I am going to use the first group to prepare thin sections, and the other samples will be used in the third method. Analyzing the thin section is a perfect way to study the petrography and petrogensis for the Ohio Cleveland Black Shale. This method will allow me to study the ore and mineral deposits. There are two ways to describe the composition and the texture of the Black Shale, optical mineralogy and chemical analysis. The aim of this method is to understand the origins of the grains of Ohio Black Shale and their orientations.
C. Scanning Electron Microscopy, SEM
This is the third method that I am going to use in this research. I have not used this method before; however, I am planning to take another course “Transmission Electronic Microscopy” in the next semester with Dr. Carol Heckman in the Biology department. While I am studying this course and using the laboratory, I will use the second group of the hand samples to apply this method because this method will concentrate on the surface of the samples and magnifies it a million times. The Black Shale will be clearly seen in this method rather than in the thin section or field observation methods because I am going to study the shale’s grains in more detail. I am going to apply this method and look for the pyrite and uranium orientation in the Cleveland Black Shale, and this will allow me to draw a cross section of the Black Shale.

III. Schedule For Completion
My plan to do this research has many steps, and they are:
1- Since I have no experience in Ohio outcrops or where are they exactly exposed, first, I am going to find the topographic map for the Cuyahoga County, Rocky River, and for the Ohio Black Shale outcrops.
2- Secondly, I need to make many traverses to know from where I should start, where I can concentrate, and where my traverses will be implemented.
3- I am going to do the first three field trips, which will be at Cuyahoga and Rocky River, during this summer. In those locations, I will collect the samples and observe the outcrops. I need also to know where I should collect the samples.
4- The second field trip will be to the Cleveland Museum of Science and History. I need to see the Black Shale Fossils that were collected from all of Ohio Black Shale Formations. This trip will allow me to make a correlation between the Devonian Black Shale Fossils from three areas: Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Ontario. I am looking to see some fossils names such as Clevelandodendron Ohioensis or Callixylon.
5- During this summer, I will start to make the initial interpretation.
6- Then, when I need to collect more data or to observe specific location, I am going to make another field trip.
7- In the end of the summer, I am going to ask ODNR to get permission to spend a week to study the well cores. This field trip will be once and for five days.
8- During October 2012, my data will be available
9- I will start the direct investigation by the end of the fall semester.
10- Finally, I will start writing the thesis defiance as I finish the investigation until the middle of spring 2013. I will be ready to defend my thesis in March 2013.

VII. Discussion and Results
As I mention in the previous points, I am going to study the Cleveland Black Shale in detail as a member of Devonian Black Shale. This study will be based on the previous three methods to investigate the facies sequence for those strata. This investigation of the factors that had affected the sedimentation is a significant method to obtain a professional analysis and reasonable understanding for the historical and fundamental idea for both Appalachian Basin and Cleveland Black Shale.
I expect to obtain three results from this research. The Cleveland Black Shale was deposited in shallow water marine environment during a transgression after volcanic eruptions. Volcanic ash was deposited before the Black Shale. The Appalachian Mountains were eroded and the sedimentation of the black shale was deposited at the versant of the mountain. To report, the high percentage of phosphates pyrite ooids will be the direct evidence of the shallow marine environment whereas the high percentage of phosphate will be the evidence of deep marine environment. Therefore, as I can obtain one of these pieces of evidence, I will prove or change the old known idea, because scientists have known that this unit was deposited in the shallow marine environment. In addition, all the previous studies reported that there is a slight west-east slope of deposition. However, because my study has six different north-south travers, I expect to find a south-north slope which means the mountains were located south-east of the basin, and this is also a different idea than the previous studies.
The limitations that will affect this research are three. Firstly, the financing is the major restriction in this study since the initial expenses reach four thousand dollars. I am going to request financial support from the Saudi Culture Mission since I have a full scholarship. Another request will be sent to the Society of Petrophysicists and Well Log Analysis, SPWLA. Another potential problem is that the previous works are not enough to find adequate information because they are old or looking for those layers in general, such as many studies on the Ohio environments and the rock structures. Lastly, this study will be done in three separate places. The outcrops are exposed in several areas on Northeast of Ohio, and accessing to some of them requires permission from the county councils in which the study areas are located. The next study area is located in southern Ohio. The well cores studies are property of the U.S. government; therefore, these studies require approval from the Department of Natural Survey, Columbus. The last area is the office analysis, and I should do that in the geology department at BGSU. These steps will be a challenge with time; consequently, I need to spend a week to study the outcrops and another week to study the well cores. However, during the analysis step, if I missed any information or need more, I should go back to both the outcrops and well cores for more study.
The total analysis of the three different methods seems to be enough to demonstrate these particular facies. However, studying at different areas in southern Ohio can be an excellent opportunity to correlate the same environment in the same age but from different areas. This further research will be my PhD dissertation; I will have another approach to apply, and this will be the chemical analysis.
The poverty of Cleveland Black Shale research will make this thesis more significant because much research was concentrated on the underling layer, which is Marcellus Shale. Marcellus Black Shale contains a large amount of Oil and Gas when this stratum has good quantities, and it is shallower than other members.

IX. References
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• Chitalym, S., CAI, C. (2001). Permineralized Callixylon woods from the Late Devonian Cleveland shale of Ohio, U.S.A. and that of Kettle Point, Ontario, Canada.

• Coogan H. A. (1996), Ohio surface Tocks and Sediments, Modified from Chapter3 of Fossils of Ohio. No, 70. (P. 21). From The Department of Natural Resources, Division of Geological Survey, Ohio.

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• Dyni, J.R., 2006. Geology and resources of some world oil-shale deposits. U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report 2005-5294, 42p.

• Denison, R. 1978 Handbook of Paleoichthyology, Vol. 2, Placoderms. Gustav Fischer Verlag, New York, NY. pp. 15-17, 42-89.

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• John, J. (2006). Field trip to Devonian Cleveland Ohio Shale. Retrieved from: http://www1.newark.ohiostate.edu/Professional/OSU/Faculty/jstjohn/Ohio%20Shale/Cleveland%20Shale%20-%20Rocky%20River%202.htm

• Johnson, H. D. and Baldwin, C. T. (1986) Shallow siliciclastic seas. In Reading, H. G. (ed.) Sedimentary environments and facies (2nd edition), pp. 229–82. Blackwell Scientific Publications, Oxford.

• Johnson, W. (1919). Shore processes and Shoreline development. New York, Wiley.
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• Kopforlo, R. Wallace, D. Flanagan F. (1982). Ohio shale (Devonian), SDO-1 from Rowan County. Prepared in cooperation with the U. S. Department of Energy. Kentucky.

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• Loucks, Robert G., and Stephen C. Ruppel, 2007, Mississippian Barnett Shale: Lithofacies and depositional setting of a deep-water shale-gas succession in the Fort Worth Basin, Texas: AAPG Bulletin, v. 91/4, p. 579-601.

• Nelson W. (1955). Pre-Berea mineralogy and stratigraphy. Illinois University. Ph.D. dissert.

• Newberry, S. (1973) The general geological relations and structures of Ohio. Ohio Geol. Surbey vol. 1 pt. 1, p. 1-167.

• Oil and Gas Journal (2009) Retrieved from http://www.ugcenter.com/Shales/US/. 2011

• Plint, G., Tyagi, A., Hay, J., Varban, L. Zhange, H., and Roca, X. (2010) Clinoforms, plaeobathymetry, and mud-dispersal across the Western Canada cretaceous foreland Basin. Journal of Sedimentary research, v.79, p. 144-161.

• Potter, P. E., Maynard, J. B., and Pryor, W. A.: Sedimentology of shale. Study guide and reference source, Springer-Verlag, New York, 303 pp., 1980.

• Prosser, C. (1921). The Devonian and Mississippian formations of Northeastern Ohio, Columbus, Oh: The Springfield Publisher Company.

• Schott, G. L., Overbey, W. K., Jr., Hunt, A. E., and Komar, C. A., eds. (1978) First eastern gas shales symposium, October 17-19, 1977, Morgantown, West Virginia: U.S. Dep. Energy, Morgantown Energy Res. Center, MERC/SP-77/5, 783 pp.

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• Swanson, V. E. (1961) Geology and geochemistry of uranium in marine black shales a review: U.S. Geol. Survey. Prof. Pap. 356-C, 67-112.

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• Thomas I. Lewis, (1988), Late Devonian and Early Mississippian Distal Basin-Margin Sedimentation of Northern Ohio. (PP. 17), From the Department of Geological Sciences, Cleveland State University, Cleveland, Ohio.

• Tourtelot, E. B. (1970) Selected annotated bibliography of minor-element content of marine black shales and related sedimentary rocks, 1930-65: U.S. Geol. Surv. Bull. 1293, 118 pp.

• Tourtelot, H. A. 1979. Black shale – its deposition and diagenesis. Clays and Clay Minerals 27 (5) p. 313-321.

• Vine, J. D. (1966) Element distribution in some shelf and geosynclinals black shales: U.S. Geol. Survey. Bull. 1214E, 31 pp.

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• systems. In Walker, R. G. and James, N. P. (eds) Facies models, pp. 219–38. Geological Association of Canada.

• Willard, B. (1939). The Devonian of Pennsylvania. Department of Internal Affairs. Topographic and Geologic Survey. Harrisburg, Pa.

• Yeager, K. (1996). Fossils Fishes (Arthrodira and Acanthodida) from the upper Devonian Chadakoin Formation of Erie County, Pennsylvania.

Climate science comes as one of the most influential disciplines in these days not only for geology but also for other sciences like chemistry, astronomy, ocean science, computer modeling, metrology as well as climatology. As we can notice at any moment, the climate is changing season by season, and year by year. Scientists are concerned to understand how the past climate has changed, and depending on that understanding, they are able to know what effects can change the present climate and how those effects can be used to model the future climate. This book, Paleoclimates, understanding climate change past and present, was published in 1983 and copyrighted in 2009 by Columbia University Press. Thomas M. Cronin, who is the author for this book, is one of the most important scientists in the world in this field. He wrote many books and some research to give a reasonable understanding of the meaning of climate change and paleoclimatology. On the other hand, there was much research about fossils, and he examined them to find the relation between fossil age and climate change. He received his PhD in geology from Harvard University in deep-sea fossils; he found that foraminifera and ostracods may give us the full concepts of the natural life of the deep-sea. He works now in USGS as a senior scientist. His book contains 12 chapters, and the aims of this book are to describe the patterns of past climate and the causes of its change. Therefore, as we could understand the past climate, we can examine the present climate and model the future. According to Cronin, “the word paleoclimatology comes from the prefix “paleo,” which means old, and “kilmate,” from Greek word for inclination or latitude.”
Cronin introduced his book in the first chapter, and he then typified the causes of climate change. Then, he moved to the next chapter to describe the methods of paleoclimatology. After that, he studied, in three chapters, the geological time scale from deep time 3.6 billion years, Mid Archean, Precambrian, to Holocene, the last 125 thousand years. Other chapters explain the abrupt events and glacial changes and how the climate had been affected by those two factors. Finally, he tried to describe the internal methods of climate variability. The first two chapters, in my opinion, are the most important in this book. The author divided the first chapter into three main points which cover all the parts of the earth, the atmosphere, the hydrosphere, and the lithosphere. In the second chapter, Cronin used only two methods to study climate, last events, and dating and correlation. The last events contain sediment records, sedimentation rate, evaporation, and paleosols whereas the author used in this book only two methods of a radiometric dating method such the 14Carbon and 137Cesium.
This book seems to be one of the most important references in paleoclimatology. Those people who need to understand climate change or perform research about paleoclimatology need to obtain this book because it contains very powerful information. I think the book has achieved its goals as it covers most past events and gives the present understanding. It also depicts a clear view of future climate modeling. However, as there are more than 25 years between the publication and the copyrighting, and because science and technology have advanced day by day, it is better, for both the author and the publisher, to update the book not only for the information but also for the formulae. For instance, scientists found microfossils of the Early Archean Eon, 3.8 billion years ago, and they also explored some impact events in the Hadean Eon, 4 billion years ago. Those Eons were two parts of the early Precambrian age. Unfortunately, this book did not contain those events. On the other hand, the author described only two types of dating, 14Carbon and 137Cesium. The two half-lives of those radiations are 5730 and 30.07 years, respectively. So how could we date the fossils which have lived before those ages? The half-life of the 235Uranium is 704 to 713 million years and 40Potassium to 40Argon have a half-life of 1,300 million years. I think the last two dating methods are more reasonable and effective to use, study, and apply rather than 14Carbon or 137Cesium. The main point here is that the author has left out and did not look for the Early Precambrian Eras and some Epochs such as Pleistocene and Late Jurassic. Another main thing is that there are many other important dating methods; he did not consider them as they can give the very oldest age. As I read most of this book twice, I found the organization is distracted at many times. For example, when I tried to search about Sulfate Aerosols, I found it in three separate chapters as subtitles. So, if I had composed this book, I would have organized it by events and subjects not as Cronin did. The book has left out the extremely important thing for dating and past climate change: fossils. Fossils are considered the first significant evidence to understand past environments. On the other hand, I could not compare this book to others on the same subject because this one is rich in information and contains a summary of more than 5 thousand references including of research, articles, and books. If I had written this book, I would have added some additional information for fossils and dating methods.
In summary, I recommend reading this book, not only for those disciplines which I write in this paper, but also for all people to understand how the climate has come to be as we see in these days. I believe it is easy to follow and smooth to understand. Nevertheless, if the book had included more details for the dating methods and fossils, it could have been more effective.

Reference
Cronin, T.(2009). Paleoclimatology, understanding climate change past and present. New Yory, NY. Columbia University Press.

This chapter, “Overview of geophysical techniques,” is taken from the book, Exploration Geophysics, which was written in 2009 by Mamdouh Gadallah and Ray Fisher. The chapter describes the three main active methods of the geophysical approach: gravity, magnetic, and seismic, each of which has its own advantages and disadvantages and purposes of using. The first two methods are cheaper and faster, but they do not give the much subsurface information as seismic does. The subsurface materials differ from each other in some ways such as density, magnetic susceptibility, velocity, resistivity, and electromagnetic property.
Gadallah and Fisher showed that the gravimeter is an instrument used to measure the acceleration of gravity. The gravity’s concept is how the mass of the earth accelerates the mass of the gravimeter in one position while the important corrections are earth’s elevation, latitude, and topography. As we draw a contour map, the gravity anomalies will appear when we have closed contours. The gravity value at sea level is 980 gal; the unit is referred to Galileo who explored this unit in the first time. On the other hand, the magnetic field comes from the convection currents in the outer core of the earth. The magnetic field has been changing its direction each year because of a slight moving of the earth poles. Gadallah and Fisher reported that the magnetic field is drawn by magnetic lines of force, and they utilize them to map and locate the basement ferromagnetic ore deposits. The instrument for measuring the magnetic field is the magnetometer, and the unit is Tesla.
In addition, Gadallah and Fisher described the seismic method that is considered recently as the most popular method. Its concept is that energy, as a source, moves into the earth and comes again at different times to the receivers, the geophones, which are located on the surface. Reflection and refraction are the two paths in seismic method, and they differ from each other because the velocities of the waves are different in each layer of the earth. The authors showed that there are different waves that can be recorded by the receivers, surface waves, reflection waves, refraction waves, and noise waves. Finally, the authors explained how geologists process the data and obtain a seismic section for interpretation.
Reference
Gadallah. M. R. & Fisher. R. (2009). “Overview of geophysical technique”. Geophysical Exploration (pp. 7-16). New York, NY. Springer.

This article, “Introduction to the special issue on rotational seismology and engineering application,” discussed the explanation term of rotational seismology. The authors, William H Lee, Mehmet Celebi, Prof. Maria Todorovska, and Prof. Heiner Igel published this paper in 2009 in the journal of BSSA, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America. According to the Seismological Society of America, this bulletin is the premier journal of advanced research in earthquake seismology and related disciplines. Each issue is composed of scientific articles on the different aspects of seismology, for both studies and observations, (BSSA. 2012). The audience is all people who are interested in the science of earthquakes, physics, geology, engineering, and even those involved in marine science. This paper gave basic information to study the areas that are around earthquakes and how the scientists use the engineering applications for more understanding. The authors explained in brief summary 1) studying the field near earthquakes, rocks and soils, to understand the ground motions, 2) background information, 3) the feedback studies which came after the theory which are an overview of its 51 papers, 27 articles, 11 short notes, 4 reviews, 6 tutorials, and 3 supplementary articles, and 4) discussing the role of rotational seismology with a strong motion, wave propagation, and classical elasticity. In 2007, there was an active volunteer group focusing on the organization of workshops and scientific projects like testing, rotational sensors with some observation in laser systems. This workshop hosted by USGS, which recognized this topic as a new research to illustrate earthquake processes and seismic hazards, (Lee, 2007).
The organization of this paper is totally clear. The authors started by the abstract to summarize the paper in few lines, and then, they explained some background information as an introduction. Then they started to summarize the previous overview with their notes. In the second part, they reviewed the engineering applications with the discussion; furthermore, they explained the programs and the theories that the seismologists use in their studies before the conclusion. The first part is the longer one because they tried to explain how the previous studies match their study. In contrast, the other parts have few pages. The thesis, which is located in the introduction for two sentences, is exceedingly clear to follow and understand. As I read it, I totally understood the main idea of this paper, but I read the whole article to catch more information. The main purpose of the abstract is to give a summary of the article, whereas the background’s purpose is to give definitions for the term “rotational seismology,” that is, how the scientists have been using this term for a long time, and how it related to previous studies and recent events, which led to the special issue. The aim of this feedback, which came after the authors’ theory, was to give the relationship with their study. The target for the discussion was to match their study with the first workshop and to illustrate some recommendations which were obtained from the workshop.
This paper is the second research as the authors supported their study by obtaining the feedback, analyze them, and then, related them to their theory. The authors did not use any direct quotes to support the topic. Instead, they used a large number the paraphrases especially when they stressed the data of any research and the names of authors. As this paper is geological research, it was documented by BSSA and USGS United States Geological Survey, and the documentation style is the “American Psychological Association,” APA.
The authors used various tenses like the past, present, and future. They tend to use past and present in many cases as they demonstrated the previous research and compared the modern observations with their theory. In the abstract and the conclusion, the authors preferred to use the present tense. As it is a science article, the passive voice was mostly used. In addition, the paper was written in first person (I and we) and third person (he, she, and it). The authors did not use any contractions in this paper since this is not formal. The authors also used many transition words in this paper when their purposes are to add more ideas like also and moreover, to show result like then and next, to show unexpected result like however, and they also used contrasting situations words like by or in contrast. They only placed those words between sentences in the middle of each paragraph, whereas there were no more transition words between paragraphs, which is unusual. They used many words just to make their writing smoother to read and understand. By the way, the topic sentences were extremely clear in many cases when there were few hidden sentences. For those, which are extremely clear, in the vast majority, I found them within the first two sentences, while in the second type, I have to read the whole paragraph to understand what is the idea.
Because it has many references, this article is extremely influential especially for those who are interested in earthquakes or geological research. I may use this article in my thesis since I am going to study the Ohio Black Shale by seismic methods. I should know the rotational seismological effects for the near areas before I do this method to understand how it can effect on the nearest area. The strategy in this paper is new for me; I had not seen any article that can compare previous studies while I also need it for my thesis, as there were many studies for the same area. There are also many benefits which I can obtain from this paper to improve both writing and reading. The tenses types and the voice type are more valuable for me to know where and when I should use them.

References
W. H. Lee, M. Celebi, M. Todorovska, and H. Igel (2009). Introduction to the issue
on rotational seismology and engineering application. From The Seismology society of America, Bulletin, v. 99, pp. 945-957. Albany, CA

W. H. Lee, M. Celebi, M. Todorovska, and M. Diggles (2007). Rotational seismology
and engineering application-online proceedings for the first international
workshop. From the United States Geological Survey. USA

Before I came to Bowling Green State University, I had a lot of expectation about BGSU: courses, instructors, students, and systems. I’m sure to say that I changed my mind just when I came for some of those expectation and others during those weeks gradually changed. Unfortunately, I found some things which I had never expected. I am going to write for one thing that I expected before I came and another one in opposite way.

The first point I would like to say is that I expect before I came that the instructors will help the students and understand their situation in some cases. I said that because when I was in bachelor’s degree, the instructors didn’t like to understand the student’s excuses’. I will give you an example to know the differences. My grandfather was dying and I traveled to my hometown to attend the mourning rituals. I absented for three days and the professor was not able to understand my situation. I don’t have the similar case but I found that the professors, in BGSU, can understand me when I ask for excuse.

The second point I would like to illustrate is that I had never expected that the American student don’t like to communicate with the international student. I have some students in two courses and during the first four weeks, I had never talking with any one of them even we went to field trip few weeks ago. Another course which I have been taking with students from another department, I have never been talking with any one of them yet. I am not sure if that is my problem or not but I expected that the native student will be able to understand the situations of international students.

In general, I would like to say that the positive things here in better than the negative. I am very satisfied and able to perform my studies to the fullest because I am here only for the future and ambition.

Saeed

When I was in Bachelor study, I have never known
that if you want to take some information from someone you have to mention that
from where you got them. I think that plagiarism is something very bad because
the perpetrator has stolen something very important from the person’s character
and when it detects a person becomes in a bad situation.

The first time when I was in Canada, I made a
presentation and I had two pictures which I have taken when I was in Saudi Arabia and
I posted them in my presentation. In the next day of my presentation, I found an
email from my teacher said that he want to meet togather in his office. I thought he
just need to know some information about my presentation or to asked me since I
was absent for three classes during the course. I met him in his office and he
started to ask me “from where did you got those pictures?” he asked.
I said I made them when I was in Saudi Arabia as I was a summer student in a big
company and I went to a desert over there for ten days. Finally he said sorry I
thought you get them from geology web site or somewhere since they are professional
pictures.

Try to do alone or with others, however, if you
need some information that you can’t do or they are not in your hand, you
should take permission form the owner to be in the sifty side.

Saeed

Read to develop your writing

When you are looking to develop something, you may not need to see exactly that thing. The best way to do that is to look around this specific thing and make sure what are the some things related to it.
If we are looking to writing development as that thing, I would say that you may not able to improve your writing skills as a specific as a writing only. There is couple of things you should look for.
I was a member in the Saudi Students society in Canada. My section was to help new students. I meet many of them and I was adviced them to read as much as they can. I said that reading is the best step to study grammar and writing.

I loved that sentence which I heard it today from my teacher, Angela who is the writing teacher for English language at BGSU, if you are a good reader means you are good writer.
In my opinion, unfortunately, for the people whom English is the second language can’t read for fun. They can read by their own language to good understand. I love to read romantic stories by my own language which is Arabic language and I have to read sciences books as I’m graduate student at BGSU. It seems more complex for romantic and sciences book in different languages. Because of many science books around me, I read every day not only to take notes and study but also to be a good reader which means a good writer.

Thank you.

Saeed

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