Geomimicry: Emergent dynamics in Earth-mediated complex materials

Soils and sediments are soft, amorphous materials with complex microstructures and mechanical properties. They are also building blocks for industrial materials such as concrete. These Earth-mediated materials evolve under prolonged environmental pressures such as mechanical stress, chemical gradients, and biological activity. Here, we introduce geomimicry, a new paradigm for designing sustainable materials by learning from the emergent and adaptive dynamics of Earth-mediated matter. Drawing a parallel to biomimicry, we posit that these geomaterials follow evolutionary design rules, adapting their structure and function in response to persistent natural forces through locally evolved interactions and compositions. Our central argument is that by decoding these rules-primarily through understanding the emergence of novel exotic properties from multiscale interactions between heterogenous components-we can engineer a new class of adaptive, sustainable matter. We propose two complementary approaches here. The top-down approach looks to nature to identify building blocks and map them to functional groups defined by their mechanical (rather than chemical) behaviors, and then examine how environmental training tunes interactions among these groups. The bottom-up approach seeks to leverage and test this framework, building earth materials one component at a time under fluctuating environmental stresses that guide assembly of complex and out-of-equilibrium materials. The goal is to create materials with programed functionalities, such as erosion resistance or self-healing capabilities. Geomimicry offers a pathway to truly design Earth-mediated circular materials, with potential applications ranging from climate-resilient soils and smart agriculture to new insights into planetary terraforming, fundamentally shifting the focus from static compositions to dynamic, evolving systems that are mediated via their environment.