Patent ID: 8879355

Claim:
A method for processing seismic traces to produce an image of a subsurface area, said method comprising: receiving a series of seismic traces related to the subsurface area and recorded by one or more seismic receivers, wherein the series of seismic traces are originally generated by a source; applying a 3 dimensional (3D) phase encoding function to the series of seismic traces to generate a 3D harmonic-source reverse-time migration (h 3D ), at least a portion of said seismic traces comprise signals reflected by geological interfaces of the subsurface area; computing a forward wavefield by solving a first wave equation that is modified by the 3D phase encoding function; computing a backward wavefield by solving a second wave equation that is modified by the 3D harmonic-source reverse-time migration (h 3D ); and cross-correlating in a computing device the forward wavefield with the backward wavefield to generate an image of the subsurface.