Tectonics and climate of the Tibetan plateau, China, and the western Pacific

On some fundamental level, changes in the distribution of land and mountains lead to changes in Earth's climate. Relating climate change to tectonic events remains a challenge, however, in part due to a lack of understanding of modern and past climates and the scarcity of climate and tectonic records. This thesis contains studies of climate and tectonics in two geographic areas: the Tibetan plateau and eastern China, and the Maritime Continent and the western Pacific.;The Tibetan plateau, the largest high-elevation surface on the earth, formed as a result of the continental collision between India and Asia. The northern boundary of Tibet is marked by the strong lithosphere of the Tarim and Qaidam basins and the North China craton. Using thin viscous sheet calculations, we show that strain rates localize adjacent to a strong region, analogous to the localized strain of the Altyn Tagh fault south of the Tarim basin. If the southern lithosphere of Tibet was thickened during the subduction of Indian oceanic lithosphere, thin viscous sheet calculations show that strain rates increase in northern Tibet soon after continental collision begins. Thus the location of the northern boundary of Tibet may be fixed since the beginning of collision because of the presence of strong lithosphere to the north of Tibet.;Seasonality of climate in China is related in part to thermal and mechanical atmospheric processes that are influenced by Tibet's presence. The mid-latitude jet stream generally flows south or north of the plateau. Jet convergence in the lee of the plateau is related to the surface subtropical high pressure center in the western Pacific, which transports moisture into China. Sensible heating of the high surface of the plateau may enhance this circulation. The timing of the jet's springtime shift from south to north of the plateau is related to spring precipitation amounts in China. We use observations of modern climate to discuss how seasonality of China's climate might vary on orbital and geologic timescales, and what might be learned from stable oxygen isotope paleoclimate records.;The Cenozoic reorganization of islands in the Maritime Continent region of the tropical western Pacific may have increased the amount of land surface area, changed the distribution of sea surface temperature (SST), and consequently provided a necessary condition for the El Nino -- Southern Oscillation state (ENSO). Precipitation rates over the Maritime Continent correlate positively with La Nina-like conditions, and precipitation rates over the western Pacific warm pool correlate positively with El Nino-like conditions. Areas of high precipitation rates are related to areas of ascent in the atmosphere and with high SST. Thus tectonic expansion and reorganization of the Maritime Continent may be related to a change in tropical Pacific climate from a permanent and zonally uniform state in Pre-Ice Age time to the present day ENSO state.