Mahmoud Shaker Abdel-Aziz Felfla

@sci.du.edu.eg

Department of Geology, Faculty of Science
Department of Geology, Damietta University, 34517, Egypt

Mahmoud Shaker Abdel-Aziz Felfla


                        Download Compact PDF  
https://researchid.co/m.felfla98

EDUCATION

MSc in Science / Geology / Sedimentary rocks and sedimentation

RESEARCH, TEACHING, or OTHER INTERESTS

Geology, Computers in Earth Sciences, Earth-Surface Processes

FUTURE PROJECTS

Integrating Machine Learning and Hydrodynamic Modeling‏ ‏‎ to Assess Human Impacts on Sedimentomorphic ‎Parameters ‎‏ in the Nile Delta Coastal Zone and Northern Lagoons


Applications Invited
10

Scopus Publications

40

Scholar Citations

4

Scholar h-index

2

Scholar i10-index

Scopus Publications

  • Reviving Water Circulation in Manzala Lagoon, Egypt: A Sustainable Hydrodynamic Modeling Approach
    Hesham M. El-Asmar, Mahmoud Sh. Felfla
    Sustainability Switzerland, 2026
    Egypt’s largest coastal lagoon, Manzala Lagoon, has undergone severe degradation due to sediment infilling, aquatic vegetation proliferation, and untreated wastewater. It has shrunk from 805 km2 in 1985 to 525 km2 by 2017, with poor water quality and heavy metal accumulation. The 2017–2022 restoration project deepened the lagoon to 3–4 m, restoring 750 km2 of open water and temporarily improving water quality. However, the reuse of dredged sediments to construct 13 elongated sand barriers and man-made islands inadvertently created semi-isolated sub-basins, disrupting east–west circulation, fostering localized stagnation, and coinciding with vegetation resurgence and seasonal algal blooms. This study employs coupled CMS-Flow and CMS-Wave modeling to evaluate hydrodynamic conditions and test innovative restoration strategies. Four scenarios were analyzed: pre-purification (2017), post-intervention project (2025), and two proposed interventions aimed at restoring connectivity, either through complete barrier removal or selective channel excavation, to enhance east–west water circulation and reduce stagnation. This study demonstrates that targeted, data-driven interventions can rapidly restore water circulation, revive ecological function, and optimize management strategies, providing a conceptually transferable framework for hydrodynamic assessment and sustainable management of coastal lagoons subject to similar anthropogenic pressures.
  • Sustainable Coastal Safety: Hydrodynamic Modeling of Drowning Risk Zones at Ras El-Bar, Nile Delta, Egypt
    Hesham M. El-Asmar, Mahmoud Sh. Felfla
    Sustainability Switzerland, 2026
    Ras El-Bar, a premier historic coastal resort on Egypt’s Nile Delta, has experienced a marked increase in drowning incidents in recent years, despite the presence of extensive coastal protection structures. While these measures, particularly detached breakwaters (DBWs), groins, and port jetties, were originally implemented to mitigate shoreline erosion, their influence on nearshore hydrodynamics and swimmer safety remains insufficiently understood. In this context, the present study integrates high-resolution bathymetric data, remote sensing observations, and coupled numerical modeling (CMS-Wave and CMS-Flow) to examine how these interventions have altered wave–current interactions. The results indicate that the modified coastal setting produces distinct flow regimes, ranging from weak offshore currents (<0.1 m/s) to moderate rip currents (≈0.25 m/s) within DBW shadow zones, and locally intensified flows exceeding 0.7 m/s in shallow nearshore areas. These conditions facilitate the development of vortices and persistent rip currents, particularly within inter-DBW embayments. A simulation-based swimming risk map was developed by integrating water depth and simulated current characteristics, classifying the coastline into safe, moderate-risk, and high-risk zones. High-risk zones, concentrated within inter-DBW embayments at depths exceeding 2 m, show broad spatial agreement with available drowning and rescue incident records, subject to the limitations of the informal dataset, while the shallow accretional shadow zones landward of the DBWs exhibit comparatively lower hydrodynamic energy and safer conditions. Overall, the study demonstrates that coastal protection structures, although effective in controlling erosion, may unintentionally increase human risk when safety considerations are not incorporated into their design and management. Accordingly, a set of integrated, sustainability-oriented measures is proposed, including enhanced real-time monitoring, regulated beach access, adaptive sand nourishment, and targeted public awareness, with the aim of achieving a more balanced and resilient approach to coastal zone management.
  • Comparative assessment of AI-based and classical DSAS approaches in multi-temporal shoreline prediction: A case study of Ras El-Bar coast, Egypt
    Hesham M. El-Asmar, Mahmoud Sh. Felfla
    ISPRS Journal of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, 2026
    Along Ras El-Bar coast, NE Nile Delta of Egypt, intense human interventions and natural processes give rise to highly distinctive non-linear shoreline dynamics that challenge the stationarity assumptions of traditional forecasting. Classical methods, specifically the Digital Shoreline Analysis System Linear Regression Rate (DSAS-LRR), often fail to capture abrupt anthropogenic regime shifts induced by engineering structures. This study presents a comparative assessment of DSAS-LRR against two artificial intelligence (AI) recurrent neural networks, Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) and Nonlinear Autoregressive Exogenous (NARX), using a multi-decadal satellite-derived shoreline record (1982–2024) to project shoreline evolution through 2050. Results show DSAS-LRR unrealistic projections, exceeding 250 m of displacement by 2050, due to its inability to account for rapid anthropogenic interventions. Conversely, AI models successfully captured complex temporal responses. While LSTM provided conservative estimates, the intervention-aware NARX model achieved the highest predictive accuracy and spatial consistency. Model performance was rigorously evaluated via Taylor diagrams, Performance Index Metric (PIm), and transect-based RMSE analysis, and was further validated by an independent 2025 “blind test”. NARX consistently outperformed both models, accurately reproducing accretion in breakwater shadow zones and moderate erosion between structures, with average RMSE values of 6–14 m. These findings underscore that for anthropogenically modified coasts, intervention-aware AI is no longer just an alternative, it is an essential tool for reliable prediction. The proposed framework provides a transferable roadmap for evidence-based coastal management and infrastructure planning in vulnerable deltaic systems worldwide.
  • The role of Late Quaternary tectonics in moulding El Daba'a Plateau NW coast of Egypt: Stratigraphic and geophysical insights
    Hesham M. El-Asmar, Mahmoud Sh. Felfla, Zaki A. Abdel-Fattah, Ehab M. Assal
    Journal of African Earth Sciences, 2026
  • Spatio-Temporal Shoreline Changes and AI-Based Predictions for Sustainable Management of the Damietta–Port Said Coast, Nile Delta, Egypt
    Hesham M. El-Asmar, Mahmoud Sh. Felfla, Amal A. Mokhtar
    Sustainability Switzerland, 2026
    The Damietta–Port Said coast, Nile Delta, has experienced extreme morphological change over the past four decades due to sediment reduction due to Aswan High Dam and continued anthropogenic pressures. Using multi-temporal Landsat (1985–2025) and high-resolution RapidEye and PlanetScope imagery with 50 m-spaced transects, the study documents major shoreline shifts: the Damietta sand spit retreated by >1 km at its proximal apex while its distal tip advanced by ≈3.1 km southeastward under persistent longshore drift. Sectoral analyses reveal typical structure-induced patterns of updrift accretion (+180 to +210 m) and downdrift erosion (−50 to −330 m). To improve predictive capability beyond linear DSAS extrapolation, Nonlinear Autoregressive Exogenous (NARX) and Bidirectional Long Short-Term Memory (BiLSTM) neural networks were applied to forecast the 2050 shoreline. BiLSTM demonstrated superior stability, capturing nonlinear sediment transport patterns where NARX produced unstable over-predictions. Furthermore, coupled wave–flow modeling validates a sustainable management strategy employing successive short groins (45–50 m length, 150 m spacing). Simulations indicate that this configuration reduces longshore current velocities by 40–60% and suppresses rip-current eddies, offering a sediment-compatible alternative to conventional breakwaters and seawalls. This integrated remote sensing, hydrodynamic, and AI-based framework provides a robust scientific basis for adaptive, sediment-compatible shoreline management, supporting the long-term resilience of one of Egypt’s most vulnerable deltaic coasts under accelerating climatic and anthropogenic pressures.
  • Integrated Predictive Modeling of Shoreline Dynamics and Sedimentation Mechanisms to Ensure Sustainability in Damietta Harbor, Egypt
    Hesham M. El-Asmar, May R. Elkotby, Mahmoud Sh. Felfla, Mariam T. Ragab
    Sustainability Switzerland, 2025
    This research examines the persistent shoreline erosion along the Damietta coast and the problem of sediment buildup in the navigation channel of Damietta Port, both of which pose major obstacles to navigation efficiency and coastal balance. To address these issues, this study uses the LITPACK numerical model to forecast shoreline evolution along the Damietta coast over the next 20 years; the coast is divided into two sections of 3.3 km each. Considering both planned and existing coastal constructions, two realistic alternatives were proposed: extending the existing detached breakwaters by adding two additional offshore breakwaters west of the current field and the implementation of reclamation between the Y-groins, accompanied by a new protruding seawall. The Coastal Modeling System (CMS) was then used to perform a two-dimensional simulation in order to examine sediment transport and hydrodynamic behavior in the port region. This phase concentrated on examining the effects of sedimentation rates following the most recent port development plan, which included building a massive western jetty (5560 m long) and a new navigation channel with a depth of 9 m to service the dirty ballast terminal. In comparison to the benchmark case, the simulation results showed a 93% decrease in sedimentation rates within the navigation channel. The study’s final phase evaluated the impact of changing the crest levels of the current detached breakwaters along the Ras El-Bar coastline on reducing coastal erosion. The study’s conclusions promote the creation of effective and sustainable coastal protection plans in the Damietta area by providing detailed information for future coastal zone management and planning.
  • Multi-Decadal shoreline dynamics of Ras El-Bar, Nile Delta: Unraveling human interventions and coastal resilience
    Hesham M. El-Asmar, Mahmoud Sh. Felfla, May R. ElKotby, Sameh B. El-Kafrawy, Doaa M. Naguib
    Scientific African, 2025
    This study provided an updated assessment of temporal changes in shoreline of Ras El-Bar on the Nile Delta coast using multi-decadal data (1984–2024) of field observations, surveys, and measurements, supported by advanced remote sensing techniques. This temporally extended dataset allowed for a reliable assessment of human interventions on shoreline changes. Based on high-resolution imagery, from Landsat 1 (MSS), Landsat 5 (TM), Landsat 8 (OLI), and Landsat 9 (OLI-2), two methods were used for shoreline measurements between 1984 and 2024: the Modified Normalized Difference Water Index (MNDWI) and the Normalized Difference Water Index (NDWI)-based Digital Shoreline Analysis System (DSAS). The results suggest good consistency, with high confidence, between the two methods, with an average r value of 0.86, R 2 value of 0.92, and RMSE value of 23.11 m. The findings highlight the impact of Damietta Harbour (DH) on coastal morphodynamics, with continuous erosion observed over the Eastern Jetty (EJ) of the DH (sectors 1 to 4) from 1984 to 2020. From 2020 to 2024, the extension of DH’s jetties created a shadow zone with appreciable accretion east of EJ at sector 1. Moreover, the construction of the Aswan High Dam (AHD) induced sediment entrapment that nourished the coast. Several protection structures have been implemented to mitigate inundation and damage to infrastructure and to secure coastal stability along the Ras El-Bar resort. These structures include three groins, a revetment, eight detached breakwaters (DBWs), and four Y-shaped groins. Among these, the detached breakwaters have proven to be the most effective structures for ensuring coastal stability and maintaining a beach suitable for resort activities. These findings inform adaptive coastal management strategies to optimize tourism, protect critical infrastructure, and sustain natural coastal processes, providing policymakers with actionable insights to enhance the resilience of Ras El-Bar against erosion, sea-level rise, and climate change, while supporting sustainable development in this socioeconomically vital region.
  • New beach geomorphic features associated with a temporal climate storm event, coinciding with the February 6, 2023, little tsunami, Ras El-Bar, Nile Delta coast, Egypt
    Hesham M. El-Asmar, Mahmoud Sh. Felfla, Mariam T. Ragab, Doaa M. Naguib, Sameh B. El-Kafrawy
    Geoscience Letters, 2025
    Typically, a temporal storm event, coupled with the earthquakes on February 6, 2023, in Kahramanmaraş, Turkey, and described as the little tsunami, resulted in new beach geomorphic features. The current study addresses these features, recorded at Ras El-Bar coast, using a remote sensing, field observation, beach profile surveys, and a grain size analysis. The results indicate that the beach is no longer dissipative, with slopes shifting from gentle (1.15°–1.3°) to steeper (2.10°–2.17°) and grain size coarsening from fine sand (0.18 mm–0.22 mm) to medium sand (0.28 mm–0.32 mm). Surf scaling reflects a transition from spilling breakers (ε = 24–72 between 1998 and 2022) to plunging breakers (ε = 8–14 between 2023 and 2024). This shift is accompanied by the formation of intermediate reflective beaches, including transverse bar-rip (TBR) (Ω = 3) and rhythmic bar and beach (RBB) (Ω = 4) morphologies. The Digital Shoreline Analysis System reveals shoreline changes, with an average erosion of − 6.1 m and accretion of 8.4 m, influenced by the shoreline’s response to protection measures. Bathymetry and shoreface profiles highlight changes in sea bottom topography with pronounced scouring. The beach exhibits rhythmic cusps spaced 3–5 m apart, rip channel transects, concave tidal flat, and a slip-faced transverse bar of mixed shells and sand. Ripple scouring linguoidal and linear shapes, with combined increased wave height and turbidity driven by a faster-falling tide, confirming the occurrence of an unusual storm event, described as a little tsunami.
  • Miocene–Quaternary stratigraphy and sedimentation along EL Daba'a Plateau, Northwestern coast of Egypt
    Hesham M. El-Asmar, Mahmoud Sh. Felfla, Zaki A. Abdel-Fattah, Ehab M. Assal
    Journal of African Earth Sciences, 2025
  • A little tsunami at Ras El-Bar, Nile Delta, Egypt; consequent to the 2023 Kahramanmaraş Turkey earthquakes
    Hesham M. El-Asmar, Mahmoud Sh. Felfla, Sameh B. El-Kafrawy, Ahmed Gaber, Doaa M. Naguib, Mohamed Bahgat, Hoda M. El Safty, Maysa M.N. Taha
    Egyptian Journal of Remote Sensing and Space Science, 2024
    From the 6th to 7th of February 2023, a storm surge struck Ras El-Bar, Nile Delta coast and attacked the resort facilities, with a wave height and velocity in deep water of 7.2 m and 12.7 m/sec respectively. The wind speed was 12.84 m/s, blowing from the NW and the WSW quadrants. This was an unwitnessed event revealed from the study of similar time interval from 1998 to 2022. Synchronizing with this event on the 6th of February 2023, was Kahramanmaraş Turkey Earthquakes. Consequently, the shoreline receded for about −30 m and with a drop in sea-level of about −40 cm. Furthermore, considerable changes in the beach morphology from a dissipative to a cuspate-related, intermediate tidal flat transverse bar with a rip profile. These are either related to the change in the morphodynamic or sedimentary budget, and resulting due to seawater scouring of bottom sediments for more than −30 cm. Two days preceding the Earthquakes an isostatic rise in sea-level (+20 cm) at the Turkish coast compared to the Mediterranean records, which is interpreted due to regional underwater seismic activities. The drop in the sea-surface height does not happen due to seawater outflow to the Atlantic Ocean. However, the sea-level regained its normal position because of the refill occurring from the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea. The pumice pieces, organic peat, and starfish distributed at Ras El-Bar coast, and thrown from the Northern Mediterranean indicate that the Egyptian coast was subjected to a little tsunami with average height of 14 cm. It is minimized due to enforced wave shifting from high pressure over Egypt to the low-pressure sinks.

RECENT SCHOLAR PUBLICATIONS

  • Sustainable Coastal Safety: Hydrodynamic Modeling of Drowning Risk Zones at Ras El-Bar, Nile Delta, Egypt
    HM El-Asmar, M Sh. Felfla
    Sustainability 18 (9), 4324 , 2026
    2026.0
  • Comparative assessment of AI-based and classical DSAS approaches in multi-temporal shoreline prediction: A case study of Ras El-Bar coast, Egypt
    HM El-Asmar, MS Felfla
    ISPRS Journal of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing 233, 407-422 , 2026
    2026.0
    Citations: 3
  • Spatio-Temporal Shoreline Changes and AI-Based Predictions for Sustainable Management of the Damietta–Port Said Coast, Nile Delta, Egypt
    HM El-Asmar, MS Felfla, AA Mokhtar
    Sustainability 18 (3), 1557 , 2026
    2026.0
    Citations: 1
  • The role of Late Quaternary tectonics in moulding El Daba'a Plateau NW coast of Egypt: Stratigraphic and geophysical insights
    HM El-Asmar, MS Felfla, ZAA Fattah, EM Assal
    Journal of African Earth Sciences, 105969 , 2026
    2026.0
  • Integrated Predictive Modeling of Shoreline Dynamics and Sedimentation Mechanisms to Ensure Sustainability in Damietta Harbor, Egypt
    HM El-Asmar, MR Elkotby, MS Felfla, MT Ragab
    Sustainability 17 (24), 11174 , 2025
    2025.0
    Citations: 4
  • Multi-Decadal shoreline dynamics of Ras El-Bar, Nile Delta: Unraveling human interventions and coastal resilience
    HM El-Asmar, MS Felfla, MR ElKotby, SB El-Kafrawy, DM Naguib
    Scientific African 30, e02937 , 2025
    2025.0
    Citations: 10
  • Miocene–Quaternary stratigraphy and sedimentation along EL Daba'a Plateau, Northwestern coast of Egypt
    HM El-Asmar, MS Felfla, ZA Abdel-Fattah, EM Assal
    Journal of African Earth Sciences 227, 105603 , 2025
    2025.0
    Citations: 1
  • New beach geomorphic features associated with a temporal climate storm event, coinciding with the February 6, 2023, little tsunami, Ras El-Bar, Nile Delta coast, Egypt
    HM El-Asmar, MS Felfla, MT Ragab, DM Naguib, SB El-Kafrawy
    Geoscience Letters 12 (1), 21 , 2025
    2025.0
    Citations: 6
  • A little tsunami at Ras El-Bar, Nile Delta, Egypt; consequent to the 2023 Kahramanmaraş Turkey earthquakes
    HM El-Asmar, MS Felfla, SB El-Kafrawy, A Gaber, DM Naguib, M Bahgat, ...
    The Egyptian Journal of Remote Sensing and Space Sciences 27 (2), 147-164 , 2024
    2024.0
    Citations: 13
  • Reviving water circulation in Manzala Lagoon, Egypt: A sustainable hydrodynamic modeling approach
    H El Asmar, HM El-Asmar, M Felfla
    Egypt: A sustainable hydrodynamic modeling approach , 0
  • Deep Machine Learning-Powered Mangrove Forest Monitoring: Quantifying Tree Cover Changes in Tarout Bay, Saudi Arabia
    H El Asmar, M Felfla
    Saudi Arabia , 0
    Citations: 2

MOST CITED SCHOLAR PUBLICATIONS

  • A little tsunami at Ras El-Bar, Nile Delta, Egypt; consequent to the 2023 Kahramanmaraş Turkey earthquakes
    HM El-Asmar, MS Felfla, SB El-Kafrawy, A Gaber, DM Naguib, M Bahgat, ...
    The Egyptian Journal of Remote Sensing and Space Sciences 27 (2), 147-164 , 2024
    2024.0
    Citations: 13
  • Multi-Decadal shoreline dynamics of Ras El-Bar, Nile Delta: Unraveling human interventions and coastal resilience
    HM El-Asmar, MS Felfla, MR ElKotby, SB El-Kafrawy, DM Naguib
    Scientific African 30, e02937 , 2025
    2025.0
    Citations: 10
  • New beach geomorphic features associated with a temporal climate storm event, coinciding with the February 6, 2023, little tsunami, Ras El-Bar, Nile Delta coast, Egypt
    HM El-Asmar, MS Felfla, MT Ragab, DM Naguib, SB El-Kafrawy
    Geoscience Letters 12 (1), 21 , 2025
    2025.0
    Citations: 6
  • Integrated Predictive Modeling of Shoreline Dynamics and Sedimentation Mechanisms to Ensure Sustainability in Damietta Harbor, Egypt
    HM El-Asmar, MR Elkotby, MS Felfla, MT Ragab
    Sustainability 17 (24), 11174 , 2025
    2025.0
    Citations: 4
  • Comparative assessment of AI-based and classical DSAS approaches in multi-temporal shoreline prediction: A case study of Ras El-Bar coast, Egypt
    HM El-Asmar, MS Felfla
    ISPRS Journal of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing 233, 407-422 , 2026
    2026.0
    Citations: 3
  • Deep Machine Learning-Powered Mangrove Forest Monitoring: Quantifying Tree Cover Changes in Tarout Bay, Saudi Arabia
    H El Asmar, M Felfla
    Saudi Arabia , 0
    Citations: 2
  • Spatio-Temporal Shoreline Changes and AI-Based Predictions for Sustainable Management of the Damietta–Port Said Coast, Nile Delta, Egypt
    HM El-Asmar, MS Felfla, AA Mokhtar
    Sustainability 18 (3), 1557 , 2026
    2026.0
    Citations: 1
  • Miocene–Quaternary stratigraphy and sedimentation along EL Daba'a Plateau, Northwestern coast of Egypt
    HM El-Asmar, MS Felfla, ZA Abdel-Fattah, EM Assal
    Journal of African Earth Sciences 227, 105603 , 2025
    2025.0
    Citations: 1
  • Sustainable Coastal Safety: Hydrodynamic Modeling of Drowning Risk Zones at Ras El-Bar, Nile Delta, Egypt
    HM El-Asmar, M Sh. Felfla
    Sustainability 18 (9), 4324 , 2026
    2026.0
  • The role of Late Quaternary tectonics in moulding El Daba'a Plateau NW coast of Egypt: Stratigraphic and geophysical insights
    HM El-Asmar, MS Felfla, ZAA Fattah, EM Assal
    Journal of African Earth Sciences, 105969 , 2026
    2026.0
  • Reviving water circulation in Manzala Lagoon, Egypt: A sustainable hydrodynamic modeling approach
    H El Asmar, HM El-Asmar, M Felfla
    Egypt: A sustainable hydrodynamic modeling approach , 0