Shaded-relief images created from digital elevation models (DEMs) are helpful in identifying faults in rugged mountains. Unlike airphoto interpretation, the method enhances lineaments by simulating topographic illumination under varied light directions. Interpretation of shaded-relief images of the Japanese Alps led to the discovery of a lineament unrelated to bedrock structure. Field surveys and analysis of large-scale maps and airphotos reveal the lineament to be a fault with high rates of vertical and lateral slip. The new fault is the southernmost segment of a known adjacent fault, and the rate and direction of its slip provide fresh insight into the late Quaternary history of the fault system. Because previous research mistook the fault scarp for a fluvial terrace scarp, discovery of the fault also changed the correlation of river terraces in the Northern Japanese Alps. The new corrections affect Pleistocene glacial chronology in the upstream area. © 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.