The State - News from March 19, 1989

Scientists have discovered a series of earthquake faults near California’s Death Valley thanks to pictures from a satellite that has been facing the budget ax. The faults are located in the central and eastern parts of California’s Mojave Desert and were found using images taken by Landsat, according to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The faults were discovered by studying a series of images taken in differing optical and infrared spectra, according to scientists at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena and at Louisiana State University. Some of the faults are inactive, but others may still be seismically active, the scientists said. The faults form part of a complex fault region between Death Valley and the San Andreas fault region.