Comment on ''Generalized effective-medium theory of induced polarization'' (Michael Zhdanov, 2008, GEOPHYSICS, 73, F197-F211)

International audienceZhdanov (2008) developed recently a self-consistent effective-medium approach to model induced polarization of porous media with the goal to "provide a unified mathematical model of heterogeneity, multiphase structure, and the polarizability of rocks" (Zhdanov, 2008, p. F197). In this discussion paper, we claim that whereas the work of Zhdanov is mathematically correct, it does not incorporate most of the fundamental mechanisms involved in induced polarization. In short, his model accounts for a special form of polarization mechanism (e.g., associated with the discontinuity of the electrical current displacement at the interface between different phases or electron transfer at the electrolyte/metallic particle interface in the linear asymptotic limit of the Butler-Volmer equation; see Bockris and Reddy, 1970)