Research progress on seismic imaging technology

High-precision seismic imaging is the core task of seismic exploration, guaranteeing the accuracy of geophysical and geological interpretation. With the development of seismic exploration, the targets become more and more complex. Imaging on complex media such as subsalt, small-scale, steeply dipping and surface topography structures brings a great challenge to imaging techniques. Therefore, the seismic imaging methods range from stacking-to migration-to inversion-based imaging, and the imaging accuracy is becoming increasingly high. This review paper includes: summarizing the development of the seismic imaging; overviewing the principles of three typical imaging methods, including common reflection surface (CRS) stack, migration-based Gaussian-beam migration (GBM) and reverse-time migration (RTM), and inversion-based least-squares reverse-time migration (LSRTM); analyzing the imaging capability of GBM, RTM and LSRTM to the special structures on three typical models and a land data set; outlooking the future perspectives of imaging methods. The main challenge of seismic imaging is to produce high-precision images for low-quality data, extremely deep reservoirs, and dual-complex structures.