3-D true‐amplitude finite‐offset migration

Compressional primary nonzero offset reflections can be imaged into three‐dimensional (3-D) time or depth‐migrated reflections so that the migrated wavefield amplitudes are a measure of angle‐dependent reflection coefficients. Various migration/inversion algorithms involving weighted diffraction stacks recently proposed are based on Born or Kirchhoff approximations. Here a 3-D Kirchhoff‐type prestack migration approach is proposed where the primary reflections of the wavefields to be imaged are a priori described by the zero‐order ray approximation. As a result, the principal issue in the attempt to recover angle‐dependent reflection coefficients becomes the removal of the geometrical spreading factor of the primary reflections. The weight function that achieves this aim is independent of the unknown reflector and correctly accounts for the recovery of the source pulse in the migrated image irrespective of the source‐receiver configurations employed and the caustics occurring in the wavefield. Our weight ...