The correlation between fault activity and the fractal dimension (D) of fault gouges has been studied taking the Xiannushan, Jiuwanxi and Tianyangping fault zones in the Three Gorges area as examples. It is found that the D value depends on both the fault activity and the grain size of fault gouges. In the same fault zones, the D value measured in fine-grained fault gouges is always lower than that in coarse-grained ones. On the basis of an improved calculation technique, a new parameter rL, which only depends on fault activity and has physical significance, is obtained by substitution. It is found that a larger rL value corresponds to a stronger active fault in the active fault zones. With the parameter TL, the difficulties in judging the fault activity by only using the D value of gouges may be overcome, thus new applications of the fractal theory are found to the quantitative judgement of recent fault activity in bedrock areas.