Tectonic activities supply additional local permeability that could be provided by the faults that bound the graben and sub-basins.

Shallow auger holes and drill-holes (<60 m) show that unconsolidated basin fill deposits include clays, clastic rocks silts and sands), evaporate deposits, and volcanic ash. With the exception of clays, these rocks represent potential sources of permeability. Volcanic ash beds could host significant zones of permeability, due to the relative proximity of Teels Marsh to young volcanic centers at Mono Craters (near Mono Lake) and Long Valley, California, both located approximately 70 km to the southwest. These ash layers have proven to be the most productive brine sources in Clayton Valley (an active geothermal area). The Bishop Tuff, which is believed to represent an important zone of permeability at Clayton Valley, (site of active lithium production 80 km to the SE) is likely present in the subsurface at Teels Marsh.

Direct evidence of an active geothermal system in the Teels Marsh area has recently been gathered by researchers at the Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology, University of Nevada, Reno and the Desert Research Institute. This evidence comes from mapping anomalously high temperatures at a depth of only 2 meters below the basin surface: these temperatures are as high at 35C compared to background temperatures of approximately 16-18C. The temperature anomalies occur in two separate zones, both of which are adjacent to a Quaternary fault on the western margin of Teels Marsh basin. The two temperature anomalies have a combined strike length parallel to the fault of almost 4 km. A USGS geochemical survey conducted in 1976 reported lithium values as high as 850 ppm from samples taken from springs marginal to these fault structures.