Resolution of prestack depth migration

The resolution of a general 3-D common-shot elastic prestack depth migration in a heterogeneous anisotropic medium is studied approximately, using the ray theory. It is demonstrated that the migrated section can approximately be represented by the convolution of the reflectivity function with the corresponding local resolution function. Alternatively, it can also be approximately represented by the convolution of the spatial distribution of the weak-contrast displacement reflection-transmission coefficient with the corresponding local resolution function. The derived explicit approximate equations enable us to predict the migration resolution approximately without doing the whole and expensive migration. The equations are applicable to 3-D elastic migrations in 3-D isotropic or anisotropic, heterogeneous velocity models. Both the reflectivity function and the spatial distribution of the weak-contrast displacement reflection-transmission coefficient approximately determine the linear combination of the perturbations of elastic moduli and density to which the migrated section is sensitive. The imaged linear combination of the perturbations of elastic parameters depends on the selection of the polarizations (wave types) of the incident and back-propagated wavefields and on the directions of propagation. The resolution of the linear combination of the perturbations of elastic moduli and density in the migrated section is determined by the above mentioned local resolution functions. The local resolution functions depend on the aperture and on the imaging function. The imaging function is determined by the source time function and by the form of the imaging functional. The local resolution functions are considerably sensitive to heterogeneities. The local resolution functions in elastic media differ from their acoustic counterparts, especially by the existence of converted scattered waves in elastic media.