REDUCING 3-D ACQUISITION FOOTPRINT FOR 3-D DMO AND 3-D PRESTACK MIGRATION

The acquisition patterns of 3-D surveys often have a significant effec t on the results of dip moveout (DMO) or prestack migration. When the spatial distribution of input traces is irregular, results from DMO an d migration are contaminated by artifacts. In many cases, the footprin t of the acquisition patterns can be seen on the migrated section and may result in incorrect interpretation. This phenomena also has a very significant effect on the feasibility of conducting amplitude variati on with offset (AVO) analysis after 3-D prestack migration or after 3- D DMO, and also may affect velocity analysis. We propose a simple enha ncement to migration and DMO programs that acts to minimize acquisitio n artifacts.