We perform seismic diffraction imaging and time-migration velocity analysis by separating diffractions from specular reflections and decomposing them into slope components. We image the slope components using migration velocity extrapolation in time-space-slope coordinates. The extrapolation is described by a convection-type partial differential equation and implemented in a highly parallel manner in the Fourier domain. Synthetic and field data experiments show that the proposed algorithms are able to detect accurate time-migration velocities by measuring the flatness of diffraction events in slope gathers for single- and multiple-offset data.

Although extremely prolific worldwide, carbonate reservoirs are challenging to characterize using traditional seismic reflection imaging techniques. We use computational experiments with synthetic models to demonstrate the possibility seismic diffraction imaging has of overcoming common obstacles associated with seismic reflection imaging and aiding interpreters of carbonate systems. Diffraction imaging improves the horizontal resolution of individual voids in a karst reservoir model and identification of heterogeneous regions below the resolution of reflections in a reservoir scale model.

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