Beam Migration of Canadian Foothills Datasets

Summary We have developed a beam method for shot-domain prestack depth migration. Based on a complex-ray Maslov formulation, this method overcomes the limitations of Kirchhoff migration in imaging multipathing arrivals, while retaining its flexibility with input geometry and its capability of imaging steep dips and overturned structures with turning waves. It is especially useful for seismic imaging of the Canadian Foothills, where subsurface structures are complex and data-acquisition geometries are often irregular. We demonstrate in this study the application of this method to 2D and 3D datasets from the Foothills. We show that the beam method produces better images than the Kirchhoff method on both shallow and deeper parts of the migrated sections, and when compared with the Kirchhoff images, the beam migration results are often cleaner and have much less migration swinging artifacts.