Planning virtual and hybrid events: steps to improve inclusion and accessibility

The past decade has seen a global transformation in how we communicate and connect with one another, making it easier to network and collaborate with colleagues worldwide. The COVID-19 pandemic led to a rapid and unplanned shift toward virtual platforms, resulting in several accessibility challenges that have excluded many people during virtual events. Virtual and hybrid conferences have the potential to present opportunities and collaborations to groups previously excluded from purely in-person conference formats. This can only be achieved through thoughtful and careful planning with inclusion and accessibility in mind, learning lessons from previous events' successes and failures. Without effective planning, virtual and hybrid events will replicate many biases and exclusions inherent to in-person events. This article provides guidance on best practices for making online/virtual and hybrid events more accessible based on the combined experiences of diverse groups and individuals who have planned and run such events. Our suggestions focus on the accessibility considerations of three event planning stages: (1) pre-event planning, (2) on the day/during the event, and (3) after the event. Ensuring accessibility and inclusivity in designing and running virtual events can help everyone engage more meaningfully, resulting in more impactful discussions that will more fully include contributions from the many groups with limited access to in-person events. However, while this article is intended to act as a starting place for inclusion and accessibility in online and hybrid event planning, it is not a fully comprehensive guide. As more events are run, it is expected that new insights and experiences will be gained, helping to continually update standards.</p

Planning virtual and hybrid events: steps to improve inclusion and accessibility

The past decade has seen a global transformation in how we communicate and connect with one another, making it easier to network and collaborate with colleagues worldwide. The COVID-19 pandemic led to a rapid and unplanned shift toward virtual platforms, resulting in several accessibility challenges that have excluded many people during virtual events. Virtual and hybrid conferences have the potential to present opportunities and collaborations to groups previously excluded from purely in-person conference formats. This can only be achieved through thoughtful and careful planning with inclusion and accessibility in mind, learning lessons from previous events' successes and failures. Without effective planning, virtual and hybrid events will replicate many biases and exclusions inherent to in-person events. This article provides guidance on best practices for making online/virtual and hybrid events more accessible based on the combined experiences of diverse groups and individuals who have planned and run such events. Our suggestions focus on the accessibility considerations of three event planning stages: (1) pre-event planning, (2) on the day/during the event, and (3) after the event. Ensuring accessibility and inclusivity in designing and running virtual events can help everyone engage more meaningfully, resulting in more impactful discussions that will more fully include contributions from the many groups with limited access to in-person events. However, while this article is intended to act as a starting place for inclusion and accessibility in online and hybrid event planning, it is not a fully comprehensive guide. As more events are run, it is expected that new insights and experiences will be gained, helping to continually update standards

Preliminary paragenetic studies of the high grade Island Pod Zn-Pb orebody, Lisheen

The Annual Irish Geological Research Meeting, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland, 3-5 March 2017Irish-type deposits are a series of Zn-Pb orebodies which formed from the carbonate replacement of Lower Carboniferous limestone, triggered primarily by fluid mixing. This project aims to use isotopic (Zn-Cu-S and clumped O-C) techniques to identify geochemical halos and increase our understanding of hydrothermal fluid processes in these deposits

Enhancing current understanding of Irish Zn-Pb mineralization: a closer look at the Island Pod orebody, Lisheen deposit

SGA Quebec 2017 14th Biennial Meeting, Quebec City, Canada, August 20-23 2017Irish-type deposits are a series of Zn-Pb orebodies, formed from the carbonate replacement of Lower Carboniferous limestone, triggered primarily by fluid mixing. Current understanding of the complex fluid flow and mixing dynamics associated with mineralization is limited. By applying clumped O-C isotope analysis to these deposits, these processes can be constrained. Preliminary paragenetic studies of the Island Pod orebody (0.4 Mt @ 20% Zn & 1.6% Pb) have yielded textural evidence for early fluid mixing of sulphide-rich fluids, in a quiescent, far-from equilibrium environment, resulting in the rapid precipitation of dendritic galena and intergrowths of dolomite and sphalerite. Initial clumped O-C analysis has revealed temperatures of 100-170°C for hanging-wall white matrix breccias that accompanied ore formation. This technique will be used to constrain temperature variations across the orebody, thus yielding information on how the fluid evolved as precipitation continued. A more detailed paragenetic study is underway and will form the foundation of future clumped O-C isotope and Zn-Cu-S isotope analysis.European Commission - European Regional Development FundScience Foundation Irelan

A comparison between clumped C-O and fluid inclusion temperatures for carbonates associated with Irish-type Zn-Pb orebodies

6th International Clumped Isotope Workshop 2017, Paris, France, 10-12 August 2017Ireland hosts the greatest concentration of discovered zinc per square kilometre on Earth, with past and current production from five Irish-type carbonate-hosted deposits, including the giant Navan deposit. Clumped C-O isotope analysis of carbonate phases offers a powerful new technique to deliver accurate fluid temperatures and fluid O isotope compositions, refining evolving genetic models and developing new tools for exploration

Clumped C-O isotope temperature constraints for carbonate precipitation associated with Irish-type Zn-Pb orebodies

SGA Quebec 2017 14th Biennial Meeting, Quebec City, Canada, 20-23 August 2017Ireland hosts the greatest concentration of discovered zinc per square kilometre on Earth, with production from 5 carbonate-hosted deposits, including the giant Navan deposit. Clumped C-O isotope analyses of carbonates offer a powerful new technique to directly deliver accurate fluid temperatures and precise calculations of fluid O isotope compositions, offering a significant opportunity to refine the evolving genetic models, and develop new vectoring tools for exploration. We present the first clumped C-O isotope results for parageneticallyconstrained carbonate generations from a number of Irishtype Zn-Pb deposits. Preliminary analysis of hanging-wall white matrix breccias from Lisheen show non-systematic temperature variation (~100 to 170°C), with fluid d18OV-SMOW increasing with temperature. Significant variations in temperature at the thin section scale may be indicative of fluid mixing and/or multiple phases of WMB dolomite brecciation. Post-ore pink dolomite at Lisheen, and crosscutting calcite veins formed at significantly lower temperatures (67 to 42°C). Temperatures of 61 to 110°C were obtained for sphalerite-bearing calcite veins in the hanging-wall of the Randalstown Fault near Navan. These veins contain coarse sphalerite interpreted to have been remobilised from the nearby Navan orebody by a single, cool fluid (Marks, 2015). Clumped C-O data will also be presented for samples from Galmoy, Kilbricken and Castlegard ("Pallas Green"), from which existing fluid inclusion constraints are available.Science Foundation IrelandEuropean Regional Development Fun

Clumped C-O isotope temperature constraints for carbonate precipitation associated with the Irish-type Lisheen and Navan Zn-Pb orebodies

Irish Geological Research Meeting, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland, 3-5 March 2017Mineral C-O isotope values are controlled by crystallization temperature and the isotopic composition of the fluid

Correlated Petrographic and Isotopic Studies (S, Pb) of Carbonate-hosted Zn-Pb Mineralization: the Formation of the High-grade Island Pod, Lisheen

Irish Zn-Pb deposits are a type of carbonate-hosted mineralization, typically found adjacent to normal faults. Ore deposition occurred due to the replacement of Lower Carboniferous limestones, triggered primarily by fluid mixing. The Lisheen deposit (23 Mt at 13.3% Zn &amp; 2.3% Pb) in the southern Irish orefield consists of several stratabound orebodies, which are strongly controlled by a left-stepping, ramp-relay fault array. The Island Pod (0.4 Mt at 20% Zn &amp; 1.6% Pb) is a small high-grade orebody, found in the northern part of the Lisheen mine (Fig. 1). We present the first detailed petrographic and paragenetically constrained S-Pb isotopic study and mineral chemical analysis of the Island Pod mineralization. Homogenous Pb isotopic signatures in galena have been observed throughout the Island Pod, regardless of paragenetic stage. Sulfur isotope ratios vary but suggest a dominantly bacteriogenic source for S. Sulfide minerals have low trace element concentrations, below electron microprobe detection limits for most elements

A distal, high-grade Irish-type orebody: petrographic, sulfur isotope, and sulfide chemistry of the Island Pod Zn-Pb orebody, Lisheen, Ireland

Irish-type Zn-Pb deposits are important global sources of zinc, but despite a fundamental understanding of ore genesis within the Irish orefield, a detailed understanding of fluid migration and chemical evolution pathways related to sulfide and carbonate precipitation is lacking. We present the first petrographic, paragenetically constrained sulfur isotope and mineral chemistry study of mineralization at the Island Pod orebody, Lisheen deposit. The Island Pod orebody comprises high-grade mineralization that is less deformed than elsewhere in the Irish orefield. Consequently, studies of the Island Pod orebody and its mineralization provide information on the evolving nature of hydrothermal fluids involved in ore deposition. The Island Pod orebody consists almost exclusively of pyrite, sphalerite, and galena, with several stages of calcite and dolomite precipitation. Pre-ore, diagenetic pyrite is commonly overgrown by early main ore-stage pyrite, with both phases frequently replaced by main ore-stage sphalerite. In many cases, early main ore-stage pyrite is texturally zoned and exhibits chemical zoning patterns, reflecting that episodic influxes of hydrothermal fluids contained variable concentrations of As, Co, Ni, and Tl. The main ore stage was dominated by the formation of sphalerite and galena from mineralizing fluids that were depleted in these trace elements (e.g., As, Co, Tl) compared to the early main ore stage. Sulfur isotope analysis reveals four distinctive but slightly overlapping isotopic groupings, corresponding to different mineral and paragenetic stages: (1) δ34S values range from –47.7 to –30.7‰, associated with diagenetic pyrite; (2) δ34S values range from –34.3 to –14.7‰, related to early main ore-stage pyrite; (3) δ34S values range from –15.5 to +1.7‰, corresponding to main ore-stage sphalerite; and (4) δ34S values range from –11.1 to +17.4‰, associated with galena. Large variations in S isotope composition are common at intragrain and at other small spatial scales. The textures, paragenetic sequence, and ranges in δ34S values are consistent with hydrothermal sulfide deposition where the fluids containing bacteriogenic sulfide mixed with metal-bearing fluids. Replacement and remobilization from other Lisheen orebodies may have contributed to some of the higher sulfur isotope ratios observed in the Island Pod orebody. The excellent preservation of sulfide textures in the Island Pod orebody observed during this study demonstrates that it is an ideal location to study hydrothermal fluid evolution, including episodic fluid flow, mixing, precipitation, and compositional variations during the early main ore stage. In other Irish Zn-Pb orebodies, these early-ore textures are often obscured due to more complex dissolution and replacement processes, making interpretation of the early hydrothermal activity challenging. Consequently, the petrographic, mineral chemistry, and sulfur isotope studies of the Island Pod orebody presented here contribute to an enhanced understanding of ore-forming processes in similar deposits, where mineralization is often associated with more complex deformation or repeated pulses of hydrothermal activity

Tracking fluid temperature and d18O in carbonate-hosted hydrothermal ore systems using clumped C-O isotopes

Carbonates are ubiquitous gangue phases in many hydrothermal ore deposits, often forming throughout the lifetime of individual systems. Clumped C-O isotope analysis represents a novel technique for the acquisition of accurate carbonate precipitation temperatures, allowing calculation of fluid δ18O values. This may be particularly useful when suitable fluid inclusions are not available. We have applied this technique to the Irish Zn-Pb ore field to test the applicability of clumped isotope analysis on a hydrothermal system. We demonstrate a close match between clumped isotope temperatures (TΔ47) and fluid inclusion homogenization temperatures (Th), particularly in dolomite from Lisheen, and late calcite veins that contain remobilized sphalerite above the South West Extension orebody at Navan. At the Lisheen deposit, our new data confirm that hydrothermal dolomitization at ~150° to 210°C led to the recrystallization and isotopic resetting of earlier, fine-grained diagenetic dolomite. Subsequent carbonate phases were precipitated from hydrothermal fluids in isotopic equilibrium with these early, widespread dolomite phases, as ascending, hot (170°–220°C), mildly acidic fluids produced dissolution (pseudo)breccias and extensive replacement in the Waulsortian limestone. In the hanging wall of the Lisheen deposit, white hydrothermal dolomites formed at ~100° to 170°C, cementing subsidence breccias formed above the orebodies. Calcite in basement veins from Navan yields TΔ47 values ~30° to 40°C lower than measured Th. This likely reflects either solid-state bond reordering due to burial or skewed Th distributions due to the failure of bubbles to nucleate in fluid inclusions trapped at low temperatures. Clumped isotope analysis has the potential to revolutionize our understanding of a range of ore systems, particularly when combined with traditional methodologies (e.g., fluid δD, crush-leach) and in situ techniques such as laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) analysis of minerals and fluid inclusions and U-Pb carbonate geochronology. However, care must be taken with regard to sample characterization, sulfide contamination, and the subsequent burial history of samples