| Abstract: | Much of the success of modern seismic data processing derives from the use of the stacking process. Unfortunately, as is well known, conventional normal moveout correction (NMO) introduces mispositioning of data, and hence mis-stacking, when dip is present. Dip moveout correction (DMO) is a technique that converts non-zero-offset seismic data after NMO to true zero-offset locations and reflection times, irrespective of dip. The combination of NMO and DMO followed by post-stack time migration is equivalent to, but can be implemented much more efficiently than, full time migration before stack. In this paper we consider the frequency-wavenumber DMO algorithm developed by Hale. Our analysis centres on the result that, for a given dip, the combination of NMO at migration velocity and DMO is equivalent to NMO at the appropriate, dip-dependent, stacking velocity. This perspective on DMO leads to computationally efficient methods for applying Hale DMO and also provides interesting insights on the nature of both DMO and conventional stacking. |
