Scattering of electromagnetic plane waves by a buried vertical dike

Abstract

The complete and exact solution of the scattering of a TE mode frequency domain electromagnetic plane wave by a vertical dike under a conductive overburden has been established. An integral representation composed of one-sided Fourier transforms describes the scattered electric field components in each one of the five media: air, overburden, dike, and the country rocks on both sides of the dike. The determination of the terms of the series that represents the spectral components of the Fourier integrals requires the numerical inversion of a sparse matrix, and the method of successive approaches. The zero-order term of the series representation for the spectral components of the overburden, for given values of the electrical and geometrical parameters of the model, has been computed. This result allowed to determine an approximate value of the variation of the electric field on the top of the overburden in the direction perpendicular to the strike of the dike. The results demonstrate the efficiency of this forward electromagnetic modeling, and are fundamental for the interpretation of VLF and Magnetotelluric data.