Causality and dispersion relations in electrical prospecting

The problem of causality in low-frequency electrical prospecting with artificial and natural sources is considered. We present numerical examples of the application of dispersion relations to transfer function spectra used in the induced polarization and controlled-source electromagnetic methods and to the components of telluric, horizontal magnetic, and other magnetotelluric tensors. Approaches to the processing and interpretation of spectra with violated dispersion relations are proposed.