Are Some Break-ups Harder Than Others? Pondering the State of 'Crackiness', Wind, Forest Structure, and Soft-Earth Mechanics Over Time

Explore the fascinating intersection of soft matter physics and geophysics in this 44-minute conference talk that examines how Earth materials like soil, mud, ice, and rocks exist in a complex state between solid and fluid depending on timescales. Delve into the concept of "crackiness," wind-forest structure, and soft-earth mechanics as the speaker investigates whether some material break-ups are more challenging than others. Learn about soft Earth behaviors including glassy dynamics, strain localization, memory encoding in microstructure, active matter, and complex yielding phenomena that mirror familiar themes in soft matter physics. Discover how the unique mixtures, excitations, geometries, and scales associated with soft Earth problems present novel scientific challenges and opportunities for interdisciplinary collaboration. Understand how recent research demonstrates that frontiers in geophysics are simultaneously frontiers in soft matter physics, potentially leading to advances in both fields. Gain insights into open questions and challenges related to landslides, earthquakes, erosion, glaciers, and exotic transport phenomena of earth materials that demand new theoretical and experimental approaches beyond traditional methods.