Abstract ––We present the results of the study of the effect of induced magnetic polarization of clay beds under the influence of an external harmonic electromagnetic field (frequencies 70 and 875 kHz). A two-stage numerical modeling procedure is proposed. At the first stage we determine the effective relative magnetic permeability of a synthetic sample with inclusions of clay particles. In this case a 3D heterogeneous mesh sample is generated. Then we numerically model a spatial distribution of an electric field. The electromotive force (EMF) induced in the measuring coil is calculated from this distribution. Relative magnetic permeability is determined by comparison with EMF of homogeneous samples with different values of magnetic permeability. It has been found that during the electric field excitation by an alternating current coil, the effect of induced magnetic polarization appears in the sample with clay particles. Its manifestation is that the effective magnetic permeability becomes complex. At the second stage we calculate the EMF diagram of the three-coil logging probe in the macro-model ‘clay cap – reservoir’. Magnetic permeability of the clay cap is given by a complex value. In the generated logs, extremes appear in the vicinity of the bottom of the clay cap; they do not correspond to the distribution of electrical conductivity and magnetic permeability in the given model. They can be incorrectly interpreted when analyzing real logs into individual formations. Numerical modeling at all stages is performed by the Vector Finite Element Method on a consistent adaptive tetrahedral partition and the first-order Webb vector basis.