How Does Gravity Affect Planetary Surface Topology?

[natski]

Realistically, I don't imagine planets really get that much denser than the rocky planets (although I would be excited to be shown otherwise) - so the planet would have to be very large. .

Actually the paper by Valencia, which has been heavily cited in recent Super-Earth papers, provdes an thorough and careful model that concludes significant compression of terrestial planets occurs.

 

[Chris Hillman]

We now return you to your regular broadcasting

It's really a moot point anyway since it's only a side remark. What I was trying to say si that as the weight of the mantle compresses the core (i.e. the internal pressure incerases), then the gravity at the surface will also increae since the radius has increased

Decreased. OK, sorry, I misunderstood.

 

[natski]

Yup decreased, sorry! :-)