A statewide seismic hazard study commissioned by the Nevada Department of Transportation included the identification and characterization of major Quaternary faults in and adjacent to Nevada. The first-cut data set produced by this NBMG study consists of the 304 faults and seismogenic sources shown on the map. Only the largest faults in each area were considered because it was impractical to analyze all of the thousands of individual Quaternary faults in Nevada. The data set includes fault systems, fault zones, faults, and seismogenic lineaments.
Faults are generally singular, continuous features.
Fault zones are more distributed in nature and involve a collection several faults. Fault systems are collections of faults or fault zones that may have different characteristics, but overall are part of the same structural package or bound the same mountain range. For example, the Carson Range fault system bounds the eastern side of Carson Range, but consists of two fault zones, the Genoa fault zone in Carson Valley and the Mt. Rose fault zone to the north. Seismogenic lineaments are essentially reactivated older fault zones or zones of weakness in the crust. They are treated differently than the faults in that earthquakes are thought to occur over smaller portions of these features and to be more limited in potential size.