Patent ID: 7149630

Claim:
A method of seismic exploration, wherein is provided a seismic survey collected over a predetermined volume of the earth containing structural and stratigraphic features conducive to the generation, migration, accumulation, or presence of hydrocarbons, said seismic survey containing at least one seismic line therein, said method comprising the steps of: (a) selecting at least one seismic line from within the seismic survey; (b) determining a starting time and an ending time for said selected at least one seismic line; (c) selecting a plurality of time windows that span said starting and said ending time; (d) within each of said plurality of time windows, performing a separate log time-stretch, thereby producing a log-stretched time window for each of said plurality of time windows; (e) calculating a separate log-stretch DMO within each of said log-stretched windows, thereby producing a plurality of windowed DMOs; (f) combining together said plurality of windowed DMOs to produce a DMO transformation of said selected seismic line; and, (g) using said DMO transformation of said selected at least one seismic lines in seismic exploration over the predetermined volume of the earth containing structural and stratigraphic features conducive to the generation, migration, accumulation, or presence of hydrocarbons.