[1] The concept's initial mathematical formulation was presented in a seminal paper by Martin H. Dodson, "Closure temperature in cooling geochronological and petrological systems" in the journal Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology, 1973, with refinements to a usable experimental formulation by other scientists in later years.
[3] The closure temperature of a system can be experimentally determined in the lab by artificially resetting sample minerals using a high-temperature furnace.
As the mineral cools, the crystal structure begins to form and diffusion of isotopes slows.
[3] The age that can be calculated by radiometric dating is thus the time at which the rock or mineral cooled to blocking temperature.
Closure temperatures are used in geochronology and thermochronology to date events and determine rates of processes in the geologic past.