Elli Papangelakis - School of Earth, Environment & Society

Elli Papangelakis

Title:

Assistant Professor

Office:

General Science Building, 231

Phone:

(905) 525-9140 x 27594

Email:

...

Website:

Fluvial Geomorphology at McMaster

Social Media:

Twitter: @EPapangelakis

My research focuses on the effects of urbanization and land-use change on the geomorphic processes of rivers. I use a combination of fieldwork, laboratory, and GIS research methods to better understand sediment transport processes, morphologic adjustments, and physical habitat characteristics of urban rivers. I am particularly interested in urban river restoration and management, specifically on assessing the performance of traditional restoration designs and in the development of novel river management strategies using the most advanced science and technology.

Examples of exciting new approaches my research employs:

Synthetic sediment tracers with remote burial depth data acquisition (‘Wobblestones’)
Gravel augmentation to rehabilitate urban rivers
Measuring geomorphic parameters using UAV (drone) based imaging
Citizen science for geomorphic monitoring

Much of my research focuses on urban rivers in Southern Ontario, which provide an excellent example of heavily-urbanized and managed fluvial environments. I have also worked with salmon habitat restoration projects in British Columbia.

Research Interests:

Fluvial geomorphology, sediment transport, river restoration, urban river management

EARTHSC 2G03 Earth Surface Processes (Term 2) 2022-2023

A complete and updated list of publications can be found on Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=ufVcoSEAAAAJ&hl=en

MacVicar B., Papangelakis E. (2021). Lost and found: Maximizing the information from a series of bedload tracer surveys. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms. https://doi.org/10.1002/esp.5255

Luzi D., Hassan M. A., Papangelakis E., Eaton B. (2021). Cycles of aggradation and degradation in gravel-bed rivers mediated by sediment storage and morphologic evolution. Geomorphology, 395(11), 108001. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geomorph.2021.108001

Peirce S., MacVicar B., Papangelakis E., Vervynck L., Ashmore P. (2021). Experiments on restoring alluvial cover using gravel augmentation in a variable width channel with irregular meanders. Geomorphology, 379, 107585. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geomorph.2020.107585

Papangelakis, E., Welber, M., Ashmore, P., MacVicar, B. (2020). Controls of alluvial cover formation, morphology, and bedload transport in a sinuous channel with a non-alluvial boundary. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms. https://doi.org/10.1002/esp.5032

Welber, M., Papangelakis, E., Ashmore, P., MacVicar, B. (2020). Experiments on restoring alluvial cover in straight and meandering rivers using gravel augmentation. River Research and Applications, 36(8), 1543-1558. https://doi.org/10.1002/rra.3699

Papangelakis E., MacVicar B. (2020). Process-based assessment of success and failure in a constructed riffle-pool river restoration project. River Research and Applications, 36(7), 1222-1241. https://doi.org/10.1002/rra.3636

Papangelakis E., MacVicar B., Ashmore, P. (2019). Bedload sediment transport regimes of semi-alluvial rivers conditioned by watershed urbanization and stormwater management. Water Resources Research, 55(12), 10565-10587. https://doi.org/10.1029/2019WR025126 (Editor’s Choice Award)

Papangelakis E., Muirhead C., Schneider A., MacVicar B. (2019). Synthetic Radio Frequency Identification tracer stones with weighted inner ball for burial depth estimation. Journal of Hydraulic Engineering, 145(12), 06019014. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)HY.1943-7900.0001650 (Editor’s Choice)

Bevan V., MacVicar B., Chapuis M., Ghunowa K., Papangelakis E., Parish J., Snodgrass W. (2018). Enlargement and evolution of a semi-alluvial creek in response to urbanization. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, 43(11). 2295-2312. https://doi.org/10.1002/esp.4391

Papangelakis E., Hassan M.A. (2016). The role of channel morphology on the mobility and dispersion of bed sediment in a small gravel-bed stream. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, 41(15): 2191-2206. https://doi.org/10.1002/esp.3980 (Editor’s Choice)

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