An algorithm for computing the transient electromagnetic (TEM) response of a dipping plate in a conductive half‐space has been developed. For a stationary [Formula: see text] current loop source, calculated profiles simulate the response of the University of Toronto electromagnetic system (UTEM) over a plate in a 1000 Ω ⋅ m half‐space. The objective is to add to knowledge of the galvanic process (causing poloidal plate currents) and the local induction process (causing toroidal currents) by studying host and plate currents with respect to surface profiles. Both processes can occur during TEM surveys. Plates are all [Formula: see text] thick with various depths, dips, and conductances. Calculated host and plate currents provide quantitative examples of several effects. For sufficiently conductive plates, the late time currents are toroidal as for a free‐space host. At earlier times, or at all times for poorly conducting plates, the plate currents are poloidal, and the transitions to toroidal currents, if they occur, are gradual. At very late times, poloidal currents again dominate any toroidal currents but this effect is rarely observed. Stripped, point‐normalized profiles, which reflect secondary fields caused by the anomalous plate currents, illustrate effects such as early time blanking (caused by noninstantaneous diffusion of fields into the target), mid‐time anomaly enhancement (caused by galvanic currents), and late time plate‐in‐free‐space asymptotic behavior.
Transient electromagnetic fields about an infinitesimally long grounded horizontal electric dipole on the surface of a uniform half-space
