Much closer to home, the Stateline fault system, which runs from the Primm area to the Amargosa Valley, has attracted more serious attention in recent months.

The fault had long been considered inactive and of only minor importance in the pattern of eastern California and southern Nevada tectonic activity, but new research may be changing how it is viewed.

Several geologists have presented evidence that the "slip rate" for the southern part of the system is twice what had been estimated.

That could mean the system is in a period of transition or that the activity has shifted to the west.

"Given the proximity to major population centers and important infrastructure in southern Nevada, the fault warrants close scrutiny in seismic hazards analysis in the region," said a Science Daily release published on the Internet last fall.

The fault passes within 30 miles of Las Vegas and only about six miles from downtown Pahrump before ending in Amargosa Valley.

"Ninety-nine percent of the population of Pahrump has no idea that they're right on top of this fault," said geophysicist Terry Pavlis of the University of Texas at El Paso in a news service article. "This is close enough [to Las Vegas] that you'd get a pretty good shaking if this thing were to go."