Virtual source method: imaging steeply dipping structures in a heterogeneous medium using a walk-away VSP survey

Abstract

The virtual source technique is a relative new seismic imaging method with the ability to create virtual sources at the location of receivers. This technique has a broad range of applications, which could be attractive to the petroleum and mineral exploration industry. However, much of the research has been completed imaging a target in a homogenous background. To make the virtual source method more applicable this research focused on more geologically realistic models by changing the homogeneous background to a heterogeneous background (ex sedimentary layering or gneissic foliations). The ultimate goal of this thesis was to test whether seismic scattering, caused by heterogeneities, could enhance the imaging capabilities of the virtual source technique on a complex target. Understanding how different heterogeneous fields affect scattered wavefields and then applying this knowledge to the processing sequence of the virtual source method, was the approach taken for this research to appropriately study the results.