State of stress and intraplate earthquakes in the United States

Recently compiled data on the state of stress have been used to define stress provinces in the conterminous United States in which the orientation and relative magnitude of the horizontal principal stresses are fairly uniform. The observed pattems of stress constrain mechanisms for generating intraplate lithospheric stresses. Coupled with new information on geologic structure and tectonism in seismically active areas of the Midcontinent and East, these data help to define some characteristics common to these areas and to identify key questions regarding why certain faults seem to be seismically active.     

Filter measurements of stratospheric sulfate and chloride in the eruption plume of mount st. Helens

Five flights of the U-2 aircraft with a filter sampler aboard were flown in the Mount St. Helens debris from 19 May to 17 June 1980. Sulfate concentrations as large as 216 times the expected background were observed. The enhancements of acid chloride vapor were considerably smaller, suggesting an insignificant increase of background values of hydrogen chloride once the plume is well mixed throughout the lower stratosphere.