Computer Modelling of Electrical Conductivity Structures

The study of the Earth by means of its natural clcctromagnetic field has received a stimulus with the development of numerical solutions of Maxwell's equations for two-dimensional conductivity structures (Madden & Swift 1969; Wright 1970). In particular, Jones & Pascoe (1971) and Pascoe & Jones (1972) have published general computer programs which have received widespread application. It is the purpose of this note to reveal and discuss an error in their mathematical derivation. The Taylor's Series expansions illustrated on p. 7 of Jones & Pascoe (1971) can be solved for ( d f f l ~ 3 y ~ ) ~ and (d2fdz2), by Cramer's Rule or by algebraic manipulation. Substitution into their equation (10) yields