Patent ID: 7480206

Claim:
A method for creating an enhanced depth-migrated seismic image, the method comprising: a) acquiring seismic data from a seismic survey conducted over a subterranean region; b) transforming the seismic data into a set of energy components; c) creating an earth model having velocity model characterizations therewithin representative of the subterranean region, the earth model comprising a set of lens elements having propagation properties which affect energy propagation through the lens elements; d) propagating the set of energy components through the lens elements to form image components which are combined into a depth-migrated seismic image; e) identifying a target in the seismic image for image enhancement; f) selecting a trial subset of less than all of the lens elements from the set of lens elements and updating propagation properties of the trial subset of lens elements which may affect imaging of the target without updating the propagation properties of all of the lens elements of the earth model; g) selecting a trial subset of less than all of the energy components from the set of energy components which may affect imaging of the target; h) propagating the trial subset, without propagating all, of the set of energy components through the earth model to form updated image components; and 1 ) updating the seismic image by replacing image components of the current seismic image with the updated image components without replacing all of the image components to arrive at an enhanced seismic image.