The article discusses the excitation of transient induced polarization responses using current and voltage sources. The first method has found a wide application in induced polarization surveys and-directly or indirectly-in the theory of the induced polarization method. Typically, rectangular current pulses are injected into the earth via grounding electrodes, and decaying induced polarization voltage is measured during the pauses between pulses. In this case, only the secondary field is recorded in the absence of the primary field, which is an important advantage of this method. On the other hand, since the current injected into the ground is fully controlled by the source, this method does not allow studying induced polarization by measuring the current in the transmitter line or associated magnetic field. When energising the earth with voltage pulses, the measured quantity is the transient induced polarization current. In principle, this method allows induced polarization studies to be done by recording the transmitter line current, the associated magnetic field, or its rate of change. The decay of current in a grounded transmitter line depends not only on the induced polarization of the earth but also on the polarization of the grounding electrodes. This problem does not occur when induced polarization transients in the earth are excited inductively. A grounded transmitter line is a mixed-type source; hence, for a purely inductive excitation of induced polarization transients, one should use an ungrounded loop, which is coupled to the earth solely by electromagnetic induction.
