Approximate calculations of the transient electromagnetic response from buried conductors in a conductivity half-space

The transient electromagnetic (TEM) response from a conductive plate buried in a conductive half‐space and energized by a large‐loop transmitter is investigated in a heuristic manner. The vortex and galvanic components are each calculated directly in the time domain using an approximate procedure which ignores the electromagnetic coupling present in the complete solution. In modeling the vortex and galvanic current flows, the plate is replaced with a single‐turn wire loop of appropriate parameters and a distribution of current dipoles, respectively. The results of calculations of the transient magnetic field at the surface of the earth are presented for a few selected cases of practical interest. The relative importance of the vortex and galvanic components varies with the half‐space resistivity. The vortex component dominates if the half‐space is resistive, in which case free‐space algorithms suffice for numerical modeling. Furthermore the measured responses give much useful information about the target,...