Understanding subsalt illumination through ray-trace modeling, Part 2: Dipping salt bodies, salt peaks, and nonreciprocity of subsalt amplitude response

Abstract

The interest in subsalt imaging has been fueled by numerous discoveries beneath salt in the Gulf of Mexico in the last decade. A most effective tool in making these discoveries is 3-D prestack depth migration (PreSDM), which allows imaging of reflectors under the salt sheets and of detached bodies of irregular shape. Ray-trace modeling can simulate seismic illumination problems such as shadow zones or seismic focusing and allow better interpretation of subsalt seismic data.