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Explore how microorganisms fundamentally alter Earth's physical landscapes through this 44-minute conference talk examining the intersection of microbiology and geophysics. Discover the mechanisms by which microbes create biosignatures and influence bedform transitions while generating acoustic signals that can be detected and analyzed. Learn about the soft matter physics principles underlying Earth materials like soil, mud, ice, and rocks, which exist in dynamic states between solid and fluid depending on temporal scales. Examine cutting-edge research revealing how microbial activity drives glassy dynamics, strain localization, memory encoding in microstructures, and complex yielding behaviors in geological systems. Understand the novel challenges presented by the unique mixtures, excitations, geometries, and scales associated with soft Earth problems that bridge geophysics and soft matter physics. Gain insights into how microbial processes contribute to landscape evolution, erosion patterns, and the formation of geological structures, while exploring the acoustic signatures these biological activities produce in natural environments.
