Annite

The relief of a mineral refers to the way a mineral may stand out in plane polarized light. A mineral may be referred to as having a low or high relief. Minerals with a high relief, such as annite, have sharp grain boundaries and display good fracture and cleavage. When viewed under a microscope, this mineral may appear to stick out of the other minerals in the thin section. Relief primarily depends on the index of refraction of the mineral. The index of refraction of a mineral is a measure of the speed of light in the mineral. It is expressed as a ratio of the speed of light in vacuum relative to that in the given mineral. Annite has three indices of refraction known to be nα = 1.625 - 1.631 nβ = 1.690 nγ = 1.691 - 1.697. It is also an anisotropic mineral, meaning under the cross polars of a microscope the mineral will become extinct every 90°. However, in plane polarized light, annite appears as a brown or green platy form and is pleochroic, meaning the mineral changes colors under a microscope without the polars being crossed.

Annite is a member of the mica group and has very similar properties as other micas such as muscovite and biotite. More importantly, annite is interesting to geologists because it can be used for potassium-argon dating. Because annite contains large amounts of potassium, it can be used to find the absolute age of articles older than 1000 years. This type of dating also preserves a record of the direction and intensity of the local magnetic field, giving field geologists better knowledge of their surroundings.