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Gas-phase metallicity gradients in galaxies provide important clues to thosegalaxies' formation histories. Using SDSS-IV MaNGA data, we previouslydemonstrated that gas metallicity gradients vary systematically andsignificantly across the galaxy mass--size plane: at stellar masses beyondapproximately $10^{10}$ $\mathrm{M_\odot}$, more extended galaxies displaysteeper gradients (in units of $\mathrm{dex/R_e}$) at a given stellar mass.Here, we set out to develop a physical interpretation of these findings byexamining the ability of local $\sim$kpc-scale relations to predict thegradient behaviour along the mass--size plane. We find that local stellar masssurface density, when combined with total stellar mass, is sufficient toreproduce the overall mass--size trend in a qualitative sense. We further findthat we can improve the predictions by correcting for residual trends relatingto the recent star formation histories of star-forming regions. However, wefind as well that the most extended galaxies display steeper average gradientsthan predicted, even after correcting for residual metallicity trends withother local parameters. From these results, we argue that gas-phase metallicitygradients can largely be understood in terms of known local relations, but wealso discuss some possible physical causes of discrepant gradients.

How well do local relations predict gas-phase metallicity gradients? Results from SDSS-IV MaNGA