Dr. Lisa Molofsky is a Senior Associate Geochemist at GSI with specialized expertise in forensic geochemistry. Since joining GSI in 2009, she has focused on the use of chemical and isotopic data to determine the origin of gases, formation brines, and salinity in groundwater and the shallow subsurface. She has served as both a consulting and testifying expert on matters involving subsurface gas and fluid migration.
Her consulting work includes the investigation and geochemical characterization of methane, carbon dioxide, and other subsurface gases, with an emphasis on source attribution, identifying the geochemical and physical processes that influence gas composition and migration, and evaluating associated risks and appropriate response strategies. Dr. Molofsky also has extensive experience characterizing and differentiating produced water, formation brines, and saline groundwater using major-ion chemistry, trace elements, and isotopic tracers. She has published numerous peer-reviewed manuscripts on these topics.
During her tenure at GSI, Dr. Molofsky has led and contributed to research and development efforts focused on advancing forensic geochemical methods. Her work has included investigating the processes that control brine composition, developing approaches for distinguishing anthropogenic gas releases from naturally occurring gases, improving methods for sampling and analyzing dissolved gases, and interpreting large public and proprietary geochemical datasets.
Dr. Molofsky earned her Ph.D. from the University of Texas at El Paso, where her research focused on the application of isotopic methods to determine the origin of formation fluids and gases in hydrocarbon-bearing basins. Prior to joining GSI, she was a National Science Foundation IGERT Fellow at the University of Arizona, where she earned her M.S. and applied isotope geochemistry to investigate the provenance of metals.