THE ELECTRICAL CURRENT PATTERN INDUCED BY AN OSCILLATING MAGNETIC DIPOLE IN A SEMI‐INFINITE THIN PLATE OF INFINITESIMAL RESISTIVITY*

Several papers have been published in which the electromagnetic anomalies are described that are produced by conductive ore bodies of different shapes. No publications are available, however, in which the electrical current pattern is described that is induced in these ore bodies. Yet an insight in this electrical current pattern would be valuable in order to assess the possibilities of different electromagnetic techniques, for instance with regard to the determination of the dip and of the depth extent of plate shaped ore bodies.

In the present paper computations are given of the electrical current pattern induced by an oscillating magnetic dipole in a semi infinite plate shaped orebody of infinitesimal thickness, in which the penetration depth of the current is infinitesimal to a higher order than the thickness of the plate. The computations are based upon an equation derived by Wesley for the magnetic field produced in these conditions, combined with the relation between the electrical current density in a laminar sheet and the magnetic field produced by this current at the surface of the sheet.

The results of the computations show that, if the horizontal distance between the dipole source and the sheet is sufficiently small, the maximum current density of the return current may occur at a depth below the upper edge of the sheet which is appreciably smaller than the depth of the upper edge of the sheet below the surface. The depth of the return current becomes large when the horizontal distance between the source and the sheet is large.