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Paleosols are an important tool in the paleoclimatic and paleoenvironmental interpretation of continental deposits and can provide a high-resolution proxy for paleoclimate. Results from geochemical climofunctions applied to Early Miocene strata exposed in the Ebro Basin, Spain, demonstrate that mean annual precipitation was the dominant control on paleosol type and indicate that the paleoclimate was considerably wetter during the Early Miocene, by up to 1150 mm yr Ϫ1 , in comparison to modern values, placing it in a subhumid climatic regime rather than an aridsemiarid regime as previously suggested by sedimentological and paleontological approaches. By making comparisons with published data on paleoclimate during the Early Miocene, this article stresses the importance of regional climatic changes in global paleoclimatic interpretation.

Late Eocene strata at Little Pipestone, Montana, preserve paleosols and an undiverse but abundant trace fossil assemblage dominated by adhesive meniscate burrows placed into the ichnogenera Taenidium. The assemblage as a whole is most consistent with the Scoyenia ichnofacies. The reconstructed paleohydrological and paleoenvironmental setting that results from the combination of sedimentological, paleopedological, and ichnological data is of a seasonally desiccated, well-aerated floodplain characterized by low flood frequency and intensity, slow sediment accumulation rates, and an overall subhumid/semiarid climate very similar to a modern sagebrush steppe. This would represent the oldest documented sagebrush steppe ecosystem in Montana.

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