From Soil Mechanics to Geophysical Friction - A Hydrodynamic Approach

Explore a hydrodynamic approach to understanding the transition from soil mechanics to geophysical friction in this 46-minute conference talk. Discover how Earth materials like soil, mud, ice, and rocks exist in a fuzzy state between solid and fluid depending on timescales, exhibiting soft matter behaviors including glassy dynamics, strain localization, memory encoding in microstructure, active matter, and complex yielding. Learn about the novel challenges presented by the unique mixtures, excitations, geometries, and scales associated with soft Earth problems, and understand how frontiers in geophysics intersect with soft matter physics to potentially advance both fields. Examine the theoretical and experimental approaches needed for geophysical field observations, with applications to landslides, earthquakes, erosion, glaciers, and exotic transport phenomena of earth materials. Gain insights into how combining geophysics and soft matter physics can lead to new collaborations and novel approaches to understanding our planet's complex material behaviors across multiple scales.