True-amplitude transformation to zero offset of data from curved reflectors

Transformation to zero offset (TZO), alternatively known as migration to zero offset (MZO), or the combination of normal moveout and dip moveout (NMO/DMO), is a process that transforms data collected at finite offset between source and receiver to a pseudozero offset trace. The kinematic validity of NMO/DMO processing has been well established. The TZO integral operators proposed here differ from their NMO/DMO counterparts by a simple amplitude factor. (The form of the operator depends on how the input and output variables are chosen from among the combinations of midpoint or wavenumber with time or frequency.) With this modification in place, the dynamical validity for planar reflectors of the proposed TZO operators of this paper have been established in earlier studies. This means that the traveltime and geometrical spreading terms of the finite offset data are transformed to their counterparts for zero offset data, while the finite offset reflection coefficient is preserved. The main purpose of this st...