Interactions between the solid Earth and climate, both on local and global scales are increasingly being considered as important within the sphere of the Earth and ocean sciences. For example, it has long been recognized that opening and closure of oceanic gateways, as a result of continental break-up and collision processes, can lead to changes in oceanic circulation patterns and so to changes in climate (Kennett 1977; Haug et al. 2001; von der Heydt & Dijkstra 2006). In addition, uplift of mountain chains can disrupt atmospheric circulation by deflecting the jet stream and altering planetary climatic belts (Tada 2004), as well as generating orographic rainfall concentration and rain shadows in the immediate vicinity of mountainous topography (Jiang et al. 2003). However, the most dramatic example of the solid Earth affecting climate is the proposed relationship between the growth of the topography in Central Asia during the Cenozoic and the intensification of the Asian monsoon. Asia is not the only continent to have a monsoon, but this monsoon is by far the most powerful and is driven by the temperature differences between the Eurasian continent and the Indian and Pacific Oceans (Webster et al. 1998; Clift & Plumb 2008), which causes a circulation reversal to the normal Hadley circulation in South and East Asia during the summer. In particular, growth of the Tibetan Plateau has been cited as being a trigger for a much stronger summer monsoon than might