Approach may offer improvements over existing migration methods, especially in cases of steeply dipping structures with strong velocity contrasts.--Modified journal abstract.

During the past decade, finite-difference methods have become important tools for direct modeling of seismic data as well as for certain interpretation processes. One of the earliest applications of these methods to seismics is the pioneering contribution of Alterman who, in a series of papers (Alterman and Karal, 1968; Alterman and Aboudi, 1968; Alterman and Rotenberg, 1969; Alterman and Loewenthal, 1972) demonstrated the usefulness of such numerical computations for the propagation of seismic waves in elastic media. A clear exposition of these techniques, as well as a comparison of results obtained from them with the corresponding analytical solutions, can be found in Alterman and Karal (1968). This subject was further developed and extended to more complicated models by Boore (1970), Ottaviani (1971), and Kelly et al (1976). Claerbout introduced a somewhat different finite-difference approach (Claerbout, 1970; Claerbout and Johnson, 1971) for modeling the acoustic waves which often dominate the reflection seismogram. In his approach, the original wave equation, which governs the propagation of the acoustic waves, is modified in such a way so as to allow the propagation of either only upcoming or only downgoing waves. By moving the coordinate frame with the downgoing waves, Claerbout showed that one could greatly reduce computation time. Using the same concepts, he showed (Claerbout and Doherty, 1972) how to use a similar scheme for migrating a seismic section by downward continuation of the upcoming waves. This migration method is an interesting extension of the ideas of Hagedoorn (1954) and was found to be extremely useful with real data (Larner and Hatton, 1976; Loewenthal et al, 1976).

The scattered wave field propagated backward in time into an arbitrary background medium is related via a volume integral to perturbations in velocity about the background, which are expressed as a scattering potential. In general, there is no closed-form expression for the kernel of this integral representation, although it can be expressed asymptotically as a superposition of plane waves backpropagated from the receiver array. When the receiver array completely surrounds the scatterer, the kernel reduces to the imaginary part of the Green's function for the background medium.This integral representation is used to relate the images obtained by imaging algorithms to the actual scattering potential. Two such relations are given: (1) for the migrated image, obtained by deconvolving the extrapolated field with the incident field; and (2) for the reconstructed image, obtained by applying a one-way wave operator to the extrapolated field and then deconvolving by the incident field. The migrated image high-lights rapid changes in the scattering potential (interfaces), whereas the reconstructed image can, under ideal conditions, be a perfect reconstruction of the scattering potential. 'Ideal' conditions correspond to (1) weak scattering about a smoothly varying background medium, (2) a receiver array with full angular aperture, and (3) data of infinite bandwidth.Images obtained from a multioffset vertical seismic profile (VSP) illustrate some of the practical differences between the two imaging algorithms. The reconstructed image shows a much clearer picture of the target (a reef structure), in part because the one-way imaging operator eliminates artifacts caused by the limited aperture of the receiver array.

This paper treats the linearized inverse scattering problem for the case of variable background velocity and for an arbitrary configuration of sources and receivers. The linearized inverse scattering problem is formulated in terms of an integral equation in a form which covers wave propagation in fluids with constant and variable densities and in elastic solids. This integral equation is connected with the causal generalized Radon transform (GRT), and an asymptotic expansion of the solution of the integral equation is obtained using an inversion procedure for the GRT. The first term of this asymptotic expansion is interpreted as a migration algorithm. As a result, this paper contains a rigorous derivation of migration as a technique for imaging discontinuities of parameters describing a medium. Also, a partial reconstruction operator is explicitly derived for a limited aperture. When specialized to a constant background velocity and specific source–receiver geometries our results are directly related to some known migration algorithms.

Just as synthetic seismic data can be created by expressing the wave field radiating from a seismic source as a set of Gaussian beams, recorded data can be downward continued by expressing the recorded wave field as a set of Gaussian beams emerging at the earth's surface. In both cases, the Gaussian beam description of the seismic-wave propagation can be advantageous when there are lateral variations in the seismic velocities. Gaussian-beam downward continuation enables wave-equation calculation of seismic propagation, while it retains the interpretive raypath description of this propagation. This paper describes a zero-offset depth migration method that employs Gaussian beam downward continuation of the recorded wave field.The Gaussian-beam migration method has advantages for imaging complex structures. Like finite-difference migration, it is especially compatible with lateral variations in velocity, but Gaussian beam migration can image steeply dipping reflectors and will not produce unwanted reflections from structure in the velocity model. Unlike other raypath methods, Gaussian beam migration has guaranteed regular behavior at caustics and shadows. In addition, the method determines the beam spacing that ensures efficient, accurate calculations. The images produced by Gaussian beam migration are usually stable with respect to changes in beam parameters.

Gaussian-beam depth migration and related beam migration methods can image multiple arrivals, so they provide an accurate, flexible alternative to conventional single-arrival Kirchhoff migration. Also, they are not subject to the steep-dip limitations of many (so-called wave-equation) methods that use a one-way wave equation in depth to downward-continue wavefields. Previous presentations of Gaussian-beam migration have emphasized its kinematic imaging capabilities without addressing its amplitude fidelity. We offer two true-amplitude versions of Gaussian-beam migration. The first version combines aspects of the classic derivation of prestack Gaussian-beam migration with recent results on true-amplitude wave-equation migration, yields an expression involving a crosscorrelation imaging condition. To provide amplitude-versus-angle (AVA) information, true-amplitude wave-equation migration requires postmigration mapping from lateral distance (between image location and source location) to subsurface opening angle. However, Gaussian-beam migration does not require postmigration mapping to provide AVA data. Instead, the amplitudes and directions of the Gaussian beams provide information that the migration can use to produce AVA gathers as part of the migration process. The second version of true-amplitude Gaussian-beam migration is an expression involving a deconvolution imaging condition, yielding amplitude-variation-with-offset (AVO) information on migrated shot-domain common-image gathers.

To apply reverse-time migration to prestack, finite-offset data from variable-velocity media, the standard (time zero) imaging condition must be generalized because each point in the image space has a different image time (or times). This generalization is the excitation-time imaging condition, in which each point is imaged at the one-way traveltime from the source to that point.Reverse-time migration with the excitation-time imaging condition consists of three elements: (1) computation of the imaging condition; (2) extrapolation of the recorder wave field; and (3) application of the imaging condition. Computation of the imaging condition for each point in the image is done by ray tracing from the source point; this is equivalent to extrapolation of the source wave field through the medium. Extrapolation of the recorded wave field is done by an acoustic finite-difference algorithm. Imaging is performed at each step of the finite-difference extrapolation by extracting, from the propagating wave field, the amplitude at each mesh point that is imaged at that time and adding these into the image space at the same spatial locations. The locus of all points imaged at one time step is a wavefront [a constant time (or phase) trajectory]. This prestack migration algorithm is very general. The excitation-time imaging condition is applicable to all source-receiver geometries and variable-velocity media and reduces exactly to the usual time-zero imaging condition when used with zero-offset surface data. The algorithm is illustrated by application to both synthetic and real VSP data. The most interesting and potentially useful result in the processing of the synthetic data is imaging of the horizontal fluid interfaces within a reservoir even when the surrounding reservoir boundaries are not well imaged.

Wave-equation datuming is the name given to upward or downward continuation of seismic time data when the purpose is to redefine the reference surface on which the sources and receivers appear to be located. This technique differs from conventional datuming methods in the repositioning of seismic reflections laterally as well as vertically in response to observed time dips. The most interesting applications of the technique are those in which the redefined reference surface is an actual geologic interface having an irregular topography and a large velocity contrast. Wave-equation datuming can remove the deleterious effect such an interface has on seismic reflections originating below it. Wave-equation datuming also is applicable in seismic modeling.The computations required in wave-equation datuming are related to those of migration. The Kirchhoff integral formulation of the wave equation can provide a basis for computation to deal with the irregular surfaces and variable velocities that are central to the problem. The numerical implementation of the Kirchhoff approach can be reduced to an efficient procedure involving summations and convolutions of seismic traces with short shaping and weighting operators.

This note describes the extension to unstacked seismic data of a computationally efficient form of the Kirchhoff integral published several years ago. In the previous paper (Berryhill, 1979), a wave-equation procedure was developed to change the datum of a collection of zero-offset seismic traces from one surface of arbitrary shape to another, even when the velocity for wave propagation is not constant. This procedure was designated \"wave-equation datuming,\" and its applications to zero-offset data were shown to include velocity-replacement datum corrections and multilayer forward modeling. Extending this procedure to unstacked data requires no change in the mathematical algorithm. It is necessary only to recognize that operating on a common-source group of seismic traces has the effect of extrapolating the receivers from one datum to another, and that, because of reciprocity, operating on a common-receiver group changes the datum of the sources. Two passes through the data, common-source computations, then common-receiver computations, are required to change the datum of an entire seismic line before stack from one surface to another. Common-source and common-receiver trace groups must take the form of symmetric split spreads if both directions of dip are to be treated equally; reciprocity allows split spreads to be constructed artificially if the data were not actually recorded in the required form.

A direct (noniterative) method is presented to determine an acoustic layered medium from the seismogram due to a time-limited plane wave incident from the lower halfspace. It is shown that one side of the autocorrelation of the seismogram due to an impulsive source at depth is the seismogram due to an impulsive source on the surface. This transforms the problem to the acoustic reflections problem as solved by Kunetz. Both the deep source time function and the layering can be determined from a surface seismogram.

We describe a new shortcut strategy for imaging the sediments and salt edge around a salt flank through an overburden salt canopy. We tested its performance and capabilities on 2D synthetic acoustic seismic data from a Gulf of Mexico style model. We first redatumed surface shots, using seismic interferometry, from a walkaway vertical seismic profile survey as if the source and receiver pairs had been located in the borehole at the positions of the receivers. This process creates effective downhole shot gathers by completely moving surface shots through the salt canopy, without any knowledge of overburden velocity structure. After redatuming, we can apply multiple passes of prestack migration from the reference datum of the bore-hole. In our example, first-pass migration, using only a simple vertical velocity gradient model, reveals the outline of the salt edge. A second pass of reverse-time, prestack depth migration using full two-way wave equation was performed with an updated velocity model that consisted of the velocity gradient and salt dome. The second-pass migration brings out dipping sediments abutting the salt flank because these reflectors were illuminated by energy that bounced off the salt flank, forming prismatic reflections. In this target-oriented strategy, the computationally fast redatuming process eliminates the need for the traditional complex process of velocity estimation, model building, and iterative depth migration to remove effects of the salt canopy and surrounding overburden. This might allow this strategy to be used in the field in near real time.