I. THE FIRST MULTI-DIMENSIONAL INVERSE-SCATTERING-SERIES INTERNAL-MULTIPLE-ELIMINATION METHOD: A NEW TOOLBOX OPTION FOR REMOVING INTERNAL MULTIPLES THAT INTERFERE WITH A PRIMARY, WITHOUT DAMAGING THE PRIMARY, AND WITHOUT ANY KNOWLEDGE OF SUBSURFACE PROPERTIES II. TESTS AND ANALYSIS FOR RESOLUTION COMPARISONS BETWEEN REVERSE TIME MIGRATION (RTM) AND THE FIRST MIGRATION METHOD THAT IS EQUALLY EFFECTIVE AT ALL FREQUENCIES AT THE TARGET

Abstract

The general goal of seismic exploration is to develop new capabilities in the seismic toolbox to increase our ability to locate hydrocarbons. There is a seismic processing chain of linked tasks that processes the data recorded by the receivers and produces subsurface images to serve that goal and objective. This thesis represents progress in two different links in this chain, (1) the internal-multiple removal and (2) the first migration method that is equally effective at all frequencies at the target. The organization of the thesis is as follows. First, we provide an introduction to the new internal-multiple-elimination method. Then a similar introduction is provided for the rst migration method that is equally e ective at all frequencies at the target. Chapters 2, 3 and 4 discuss the internal-multiple-elimination algorithm and provide numerical tests for: (1) a 1D normal incidence plane wave on an acoustic medium, (2) pre-stack 1D acoustic and elastic model data and (3) a multi-dimensional acoustic earth. Chapters 5 and 6 discuss the first migration method that is equally effective at all frequencies at the target and compare this method (for structural resolution) with current industry leading edge RTM. Chapter 7 summarizes this thesis.