California Institute of Technology (Caltech) began conducting surveys of major geologic faults in the areas surrounding Yucca Mountain. They wanted to determine if seismic activity would affect the nuclear waste repository site at Yucca Mountain. The annual results of the surveys revealed that the movement of the faults around Death Valley was much greater then originally thought. It was believed in the past that the faults move 2-4 mm per year but now seem to move up to 10 times faster.  Caltech installed geodetic monitoring stations—high precision Global Positioning systems (GPS) units—in 1998 and1999 on the major faults around Yucca Mountain for continued monitoring.

One of these devices was installed on the Death Valley Fault. The data collected from the geodetic device supported earlier findings. Caltech came up with two scenarios for the discrepancy between earlier studies and the recent surveys. The first one is the Death Valley – Furnace creek fault zone, which is along the eastern side of Death Valley, is more active then other geologic studies have indicated.  The second scenario is that an unidentified fault underlies the Amargosa Desert. Caltech now proposes to install three more of these devices within Death Valley National Park; these three stations will help monitor the movements of the DV-FC fault. Other will be installed around Amargosa valley.

Other groups are also interested in studying the faults around Death Valley. The other studies are all similar to the Caltech study.  One group wants to study the faults for a better understanding of the structural framework from the great Valley to Death Valley Junction.  These studies will increase our knowledge and understanding of the area around Yucca Mountain and Death Valley National Park.