NAPA - (INT) – A UC Riverside earthquake expert is placing GPS instruments in the quake zone to measure movement of the earth’s crust.

Professor Gareth Funning is not surprised about the intensity of Sunday’s quake. He’s also focused on the Inland Empire.

“What we are measuring with our GPS surveying are large strain accumulations on the San Jacinto and San Andreas faults. Those two are the most dangerous.”

And, what are they finding?

“The faults are not moving, they are locked by friction. The crust is bending around those faults. That bending puts additional stress on the faults. Over time when that bending stress gets bigger than the friction stress that’s holding the faults in place, then you get earthquakes.”

The GPS technology should give scientists a better understanding of the physics of earthquakes.

Story Date: September 2, 2014