The phenomenon in mineralogy where a crystal's external form is determined by its surroundings rather than its internal crystal structure.
From Greek 'exo-' (outside) + 'morphe' (form) + '-ism' (condition), this geological concept emerged in 19th-century mineralogy to explain why chemically identical minerals can look completely different.
Two diamonds can be identical chemically but look completely different because one grew in a tight space and the other in open space—that's exomorphism teaching us that environment writes history on matter itself.
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