Gaussian beam migration of common-shot records

Abstract

Gaussian beam migration is a depth migration method whose accuracy rivals that of migration by wavefield extrapolation — so-called “wave-equation migration” — and whose efficiency rivals that of Kirchhoff migration. This migration method can image complicated geologic structures, including very steep dips, in areas where the seismic velocity varies rapidly. However, applications of prestack Gaussian beam migration either have been limited to common-offset common-azimuth data volumes, and thus are inflexible, or suffer from multiarrival inaccuracies in a common-shot implementation. In order to optimize both the flexibility and accuracy of Gaussian beam migration, I present a common-shot implementation that handles multipathing in a natural way. This allows the migration of data sets that can include a variety of azimuths, and it allows a simplified treatment of near-surface issues. Application of this method to model data typical of Canadian Foothills structures and to model data that includes a complicated salt body demonstrates the accuracy and versatility of the migration.