Viscoacoustic VTI media reverse time migration method in the complex-domain based on the staining algorithm

Abstract

Underground media exhibit characteristics of viscosity and anisotropy, with vertical transversely isotropic (VTI) media being a common example of anisotropic media. Consequently, it is crucial to address the viscoacoustic VTI wave equation during forward modeling and migration imaging processes to attain highly precise imaging outcomes. However, conventional subsalt imaging techniques yield low accuracy and suffer from a low signal-to-noise ratio. To overcome this challenge, this study proposes a staining algorithm-based viscoacoustic vertical transversely isotropic reverse time migration (VTI RTM) in the complex-domain method by deriving the complex-domain viscoacoustic VTI equation. This method requires both the traditional real velocity field and the imaginary velocity field as inputs. The imaginary velocity field contains stained geological bodies and significant areas without data. Seismic waves propagate normally in the real wavefield, while in the imaginary wavefield, reflections occur only when the wavefront encounters stained geological bodies. The proposed method is assessed through testing on both a horizontally layered model and a salt model. Through comparative analysis, it has been verified that the method fully incorporates reflected waves with distinct structural features into the imaginary wavefield. Numerical experiments demonstrate that this method can accurately image subsalt structures.