WAVE EQUATION IMAGING OF OFFSET VSP DATA

A PROPOSED METHOD FOR GENERATING AN IMAGE IN DEPTH OF A GEOLOGIC CROSS-SECTION FROM OFFSET VERTICAL SEISMIC PROFILE (VSP) DATA WILL BE TESTED AND EVALUATED. THE PROPOSED METHOD USES WAVE EQUATION MIGRATION TECHNOLOGY COUPLED WITH A NEW IMAGING METHOD TO GENERATE THE IMAGE. THIS ELIMINATESTHE NEED FOR RAY TRACING AND ALLOWS FOR MORE COMPLEX VELOCITY MODELS THAN DO PRESENT METHODS. THE METHOD WILL BEIMPLEMENTED IN COMPUTER SOFTWARE AND TESTED USING SYNTHETIC DATA. THE OBJECTIVE OF THE RESEARCH IS TO EVALUATE THE FEASIBILITY OF THE METHOD AND TO EXPLORE ITS LIMITATIONS.