Virtual Source Redatuming of Synthetic Land Data Acquired with Shallow Buried Receivers

Virtual source redatuming is tested in a synthetic modelling study using shallow (30 m) buried receivers. Both model and acquisition geometry are based on an actual field experiment conducted over an onshore field in Saudi Arabia. While redatuming is expected to improve both imaging and repeatability, in this study we concentrate on optimizing the image. The synthetic data is strongly contaminated with both surface and internal multiples. Various pre-processing options are examined that can address these multiples and improve virtual source imaging using the shallow buried sensors. The effects of source aperture and sampling are demonstrated on the final images. An optimal selection of the cross-correlation time gates is made by observing the effects of different ghost arrivals on the resulting stacks. Using analysis of the correlation gathers, we quantify improvements introduced by up-down wavefield separation using land dual sensor technology and justify the selection of a larger trace aperture.