Multifocusing imaging over an irregular topography

Abstract

If seismic data are acquired over an irregular topography, standard elevation statics methods may be inaccurate because the assumption of vertical raypaths will no longer be valid. An effective solution to the problem of irregular topography can be found through the use of the multifocusing method, in which large supergathers of seismic traces are stacked, each of which can span many common midpoint (CMP) gathers. This can be done by extending the multifocusing moveout formula to explicitly account for nonzero elevations of the source and receiver, as well as their horizontal coordinates. Implementation of this formula into the multifocusing algorithm is straightforward because estimating the necessary raypath information (i.e., emergence angles) is an integral part of the algorithm. The extended multifocusing moveout correction can be applied directly to the data acquired in areas of irregular topography without the need for prior elevation static corrections. Synthetic tests on such data show that the proposed technique results in a better alignment of reflection events.