Seismic inversion in terms of pre-stack migration and multiple elimination

A discussion is given on multidimensional seismic inversion techniques. It is argued that seismic inversion techniques should be subdivided in two categories: 1) inversion for the macro parameters of the subsurface, 2) inversion for the detail in the subsurface, both categories requiring a significantly different approach. Ample attention is paid to the different inversion techniques in multi-experiment, multi-offset, seismic migration. They are generally referred to as "pre-stack migration." Particularly, techniques based on the one-way wave equation are compared with techniques based on the two-way wave equation. Computational diagrams of the so-called shot record migration are given. The close relationship between multi-offset seismic migration and inverse scattering algorithms is shown. A scheme for the elimination of surface-related multiples is given. It is proposed as a first step prior to the process of one-way, multi-offset seismic migration.