Deabsorption prestack time migration from rugged topography

We developed a modified topography prestack time migration (PSTM) scheme that can improve the imaging resolution by applying effective Q to topography migration. The computation of the traveltime at each imaging location in the migration is based on the floating datum smoothed by rugged topography. Unlike the common quality factor Q, the effective Q only determines the frequency-dependent amplitude and the traveltime at a single imaging location, which enables us to establish a Q model in an inhomogeneous medium. Hence, we can acquire the effective Q using a scanning technology according to the width of the frequency band and signal-to-noise ratio of the imaging gathers. The proposed migration method can be integrated into the conventional topography migration workflow. Synthetic and three-dimensional (3D) field datasets indicate that the proposed deabsorption PSTM from rugged topography is effective.

Viscoacoustic least-squares migration with a blockwise Hessian matrix: an effective Q approach

We present an explicit inverse approach using a Hessian matrix for least-squares migration (LSM) with Q compensation. The scheme is developed by incorporating an effective Q-based solution of the viscoacoustic wave equation into a blockwise approximation to the Hessian in LSM, which is implemented after the so-called deabsorption prestack time migration (PSTM). The effective Q model used fully accounts for frequency-dependent traveltime and amplitude at the same imaging location. We can extract the effective Q parameters by scanning during previous deabsorption PSTM. This avoids the challenging task of building the Q model. The blockwise Hessian matrix approach decomposes the full Hessian matrix into a series of computationally tractable small-sized matrices using a localised approach. We derive the explicit formula of the offset-dependent Hessian matrix using an analytical Green's function obtained from deabsorption PSTM. In this way, we can approximate a reflectivity imaging for the targeted zone by a spatial deconvolution of the migrated result with an explicit inverse. The resulting scheme broadens the frequency-band of imaging by deabsorption, and improves the subsurface illumination and spatial resolution through the inverse Hessian. A high-resolution, true-amplitude migrated gather can then be obtained. Synthetic and field data sets demonstrate the proposed blockwise LS-QPSTM.

Prestack time migration from 3D irregular surfaces with near-surface-related deabsorption

We have developed a 3D prestack time migration (PSTM) approach that can directly migrate nonplanar data with near-surface-related deabsorption using three effective parameters. The proposed scheme improves the so-called topography PSTM approach by adding a near-surface effective [Formula: see text] parameter that compensates for the absorption and dispersion of waves propagating through near-surface media. The two effective velocity parameters above and below the datum can be estimated by flattening events in imaging gathers, and the additional near-surface effective [Formula: see text] parameter can be obtained using scanning technology. Hence, no knowledge with respect to near-surface media is needed in advance for implementing the proposed scheme. The proposed topography-deabsorption PSTM method can be applied to seismic data recorded on a 3D irregular surface without statics corrections. Consequently, traveltimes are obtained with improved accuracy because the raypath bends away from the vertical in the presence of high near-surface velocities, and the absorption and dispersion caused by strong intrinsic attenuation in near-surface media are correctly compensated. Moreover, we attenuated the migrated noise by smearing each time sample only along the Fresnel zone rather than along the entire migration aperture. As a result, an image with a higher resolution and superior signal-to-noise ratio is achieved. The performance of the proposed topography-deabsorption PSTM scheme has been verified using synthetic and field data sets.

Imaging 3-D faults using diffractions with modified dip-angle gathers

SUMMARY Accurate identification of the locations and orientations of small-scale faults plays an important role in seismic interpretation. We have developed a 3-D migration scheme that can image small-scale faults using diffractions in time. This provides a resolution beyond the classical Rayleigh limit of half a wavelength in detecting faults. The scheme images weak diffractions by building a modified dip-angle gather, which is obtained by replacing the two dip angles dimensions of the conventional 2-D dip-angle gather with tangents of the dip angles. We build the modified 2-D dip-angle gathers by calculating the tangents of dip angles following 3-D prestack time migration (PSTM). In the resulting modified 2-D dip-angle gathers, the Fresnel zone related to the specular reflection exhibits an ellipse. Comparing with the conventional 2-D dip-angle gather, diffraction event related a fault exhibits a straight cylinder shape with phase-reversal across a line related the orientation of the fault. As a result, we can not only mute the Fresnel zones related to reflections, correct phase for edge diffractions and obtain the image of faults, but also detect the orientations of 3-D faults using the modified dip-angle gathers. Like the conventional dip-angle gathers, the modified dip-angle gathers can also be used to image diffractions resulting from other sources. 3-D Field data tests demonstrate the validity of the proposed diffraction imaging scheme.