Patent ID: 7474996

Claim:
A method of processing geophysical data, the data comprising at least a first set of geophysical data acquired with a first source-receiver azimuth and a second set of geophysical data acquired with a second source-receiver azimuth different from the first source-receiver azimuth, the method comprising: a) selecting an attribute of the geophysical data that is dependent on the source-receiver azimuth; b) determining a value of the source-receiver azimuth about which the selected attribute exhibits mirror symmetry using a function indicative of a correspondence between a selected source-receiver azimuth and the value of the source-receiver azimuth about which the selected attribute exhibits mirror symmetry, wherein the function is expressed as: E = ⁢ ∑ i = 1 n ⁢ ( f i - f ⁡ [ - ϕ + ϕ 0 ] ) 2 + ⁢ ( f i - f ⁡ [ 180 - ϕ + ϕ 0 ] ) 2 + ( f i - f ⁡ [ 180 + ϕ - ϕ 0 ] ) 2 where f i is the value of the selected attribute at a source-receiver azimuth φ, and f[α] is the value of the attribute at a source-receiver azimuth α, φ 0 is the value of the source-receiver azimuth about which the selected attribute exhibits mirror symmetry; and c) storing the value of the source-receiver azimuth about which the selected attribute exhibits mirror symmetry to memory; and d) wherein the method is performed on a computer processor, to memory.