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Finding out new faults, moreover active faults, can help scientist to predict potential earthquakes in unexpected locations. There are several clues in the landscape which can point to the existence of faults which haven't moved quite so recently. Some of them are the following.
They form long straight features in the landscape which can also alter the local topography and natural drainage. Thus they are behind buckled land and some ponds and lakes formed by downwarping. They can also be the site for springs to emerge and, because of the natural drainage, they often have a cover of thick vegetation along their lengh.
They can be detected by reflection surveys, made by bouncing explosion shock waves off the layer boundaries of the Earth.
The rock along fault lines is weak from being shattered time and again by earthquakes. Both glaciers and streams take advantage of this rock, gouging it out from along the fault lines, and even major valleys can be created.