oa Diffraction Imaging

For the past two decades numerous authors (Landa et al. [1987], Kanasewich and Phadke [1988], Khaidukov et al. [2004], Moser and Howard [2008], and Reshef and Landa [2008]) have conducted research and published papers on real diffraction imaging, super-resolution and post-stack velocity analysis in the dip-angle domain. All of the above methodologies aim, first to differentiate reflections from diffractions in either the time or depth domain, and second to obtain higher resolution seismic images by imaging primarily diffracted arrivals. The main objective of imaging real diffracted arrivals is to produce high resolution seismic sections in time or depth, which in turn will enhance the interpretation of fault edges, pinchouts, reef edges, fracture zones and other geologic discontinuities. In this presentation we will illustrate an extension to the methodology applied by Kanasewich and Phadke (1988), which enables us to obtain both the diffraction focused images in the time domain and the associated data driven velocity field. Complementing one another, the diffraction image sections should be interpreted in conjunction with the conventional reflection time migrated image sections. During the presentation we will also outline the characteristic properties of diffracted waves and illustrate, with synthetic and real data examples, the clear distinction between reflection and pure diffraction imaging.