Imaging complex three‐dimensional structures, applying three‐component vector migration to synthetic vertical seismic profiling data

Abstract

By applying a ray‐based three‐dimensional vector migration process to fully elastic three‐component synthetic Vertical Seismic Profiling data, we are able to demonstrate that the process gives an accurate compressional reflection image of the complex formation without much visible artefacts from spatial aliasing, or from ‘migration smiles’ caused by the limited aperture of the receiver array. We demonstrate that the process reconstructs images of both steeply dipping salt flanks, and the sediments that tend to be dragged along by the moving salt and truncated against the sides of the salt body. The process uses raw unseparated data as input, and the wavefield separation of compressional and shear waves are done by projection operators inside the kernel of the migration process. The compressional reflection image appear to have no visible artefacts from the abundance of converted shear.