Satan In-Fall

Satan's World, XI.

The surface of the rogue planet, Satan, is covered with frozen oceans and by ten to twenty metres of frozen atmosphere. Its temperature is close to absolute zero. Nevertheless, the magnetic field indicates that part of the planetary core is still molten. As in Norse mythology, the dialectical opposites of heat and cold interact. Mantle, crust and frozen surface insulate core heat. 

As Satan falls toward Beta Crucis, its cryosphere dissolves. Glaciers melt into torrents which boil into winds. Melting ice moves masses. Mountains rise. Shifting intra-global pressures release energy that melts rocks. Thousands of volcanoes erupt. There are geysers, hail, rain and boulders whirled aloft by gales/tempests/hurricanes.

Some of the drama in Poul Anderson's works is in natural events alone. The novel is mainly about the industrial potential of a re-energized uninhabited planet. Without a nearby technological civilization, the transformation of Satan would have passed unnoticed with no extraplanetary consequences.