The discussion presents your explanation and interpretation of the data: the geologic reasons for the trends or differences you've reported in the results, and the significance of these findings to larger scientific questions that have been raised in the literature or (less commonly) that you're raising for the first time. The Discussion should not introduce data from your work that haven't already been reported in the results. However, it can have plots or tables showing the results of others, for purposes of comparison with your data. Highlight the most significant results, but don't just repeat what you've written in the Results section. How do these results relate to the original question? Do the data support your hypothesis? Are your results consistent with what other investigators have reported? If your results were unexpected, try to explain why. Is there another way to interpret your results? What further research would be necessary to answer the questions raised by your results? How do y our results fit into the big picture? (L.B. Railsback and Mumpton F.A)