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In contrast to Li/Ca and Mg/Ca, Li/Mg is strongly anticorrelated with temperature in aragonites precipitated by the benthic foraminifer Hoeglundina elegans and a wide range of scleractinian coral taxa. We propose a simple conceptual model of biomineralization that explains this pattern and is consistent with available abiotic aragonite partition coefficients. Under this model the organism actively modifies seawater within its calcification pool by raising its [Ca 2+ ], using a pump that strongly discriminates against both Li + and Mg 2+ . Rayleigh fractionation during calcification effectively reverses this process, removing Ca 2+ while leaving most Li + and Mg 2+ behind in the calcifying fluid. The net effect of these two processes is that Li/Mg in the calcifying fluid remains very close to the seawater value, and temperature-dependent abiotic partition coefficients are expressed in the biogenic aragonite Li/Mg ratio. We further show that coral Sr/Ca is consistent with this model if the Ca 2+ pump barely discriminates against Sr 2+ . In H. elegans the covariation of Sr/Ca and Mg/Ca requires either that the pump more strongly discriminates against Sr 2+ , or that cation incorporation is affected by aragonite precipitation rate via the mechanism of surface entrapment. In either case Li/Mg is minimally affected by such ‘vital effects’ which plague other elemental ratio paleotemperature proxies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Li/Mg shows strong relationship with temperature across all biogenic aragonites. • Aragonitic stylasterid Li/Mg is the most robust temperature proxy. • Li/Mg of high-Mg calcites also exhibit an exponential relationship to temperature. • Database of temperature proxy data compiled and corrected for interlaboratory bias. The Li/Mg, Sr/Ca and oxygen isotopic (δ 18 O) compositions of many marine biogenic carbonates are sensitive to seawater temperature. Corals, as cosmopolitan marine taxa with carbonate skeletons that can be precisely dated, represent ideal hosts for these geochemical proxies. However, efforts to calibrate and refine temperature proxies in cold-water corals (<20 °C) remain limited. Here we present skeletal Li/Mg, Sr/Ca, δ 18 O and carbon isotope (δ 13 C) data from live-collected specimens of aragonitic scleractinian corals (Balanophyllia, Caryophyllia, Desmophyllum, Enallopsammia, Flabellum, Lophelia , and Vaughanella), both aragonitic and high-Mg calcitic stylasterid genera (Stylaster and Errina), and shallow-water high-Mg calcite crustose coralline algae (Lithophyllum, Hydrolithon , and Neogoniolithon). We interpret these data in conjunction with results from previously explored taxa including aragonitic zooxanthellate scleractinia and foraminifera, and high-Mg calcite octocorals. We show that Li/Mg ratios covary most strongly with seawater temperature, both for aragonitic and high-Mg calcitic taxa, making for reliable and universal seawater temperature proxies. Combining all of our biogenic aragonitic Li/Mg data with previous calibration efforts we report a refined relationship to temperature: Li/Mg All Aragonite = 5.42 exp ⁡ (− 0.050 × T (° C)) (R 2 = 0.97). This calibration now permits paleo-temperature reconstruction to better than ±3.4 °C (95% prediction intervals) across biogenic aragonites, regardless of taxon, from 0 to 30 °C. For taxa in this study, aragonitic stylasterid Li/Mg offers the most robust temperature proxy (Li/Mg Stylasterid (Arag) = 5.64 exp ⁡ (− 0.046 × T (° C)) (R 2 = 0.95)) with a reproducibility of ±2.3 °C. For the first time, we show that high-Mg calcites have a similar exponential relationship with temperature, but with a lower intercept value (Li/Mg = 0.63 exp ⁡ (− 0.050 × T (° C) (R 2 = 0.92)). This calibration opens the possibility of temperature reconstruction using high-Mg calcite corals and coralline algae. The commonality in the relationship between Li/Mg and temperature transcends phylogeny and suggests a similar abiogenic trace metal incorporation mechanism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]