Method for target-oriented reverse time migration for prestack depth imaging

A system configured to perform target-oriented reverse time migration for prestack depth imaging, the system comprising:

• a data storage device having computer readable data including prestack seismic data and an earth model for a subsurface region;
• a processor, configured and arranged to execute machine executable instructions stored in a processor accessible memory for performing a method comprising:
• determining an acquisition area within the earth model;
• determining a reference surface near a target in the subsurface region of interest;
• exciting wavefields from the reference surface;
• propagating the excited wavefields through the earth model;
• recording the wavefields at receiver locations in the acquisition area and at the target;
• synthesizing wavefields along the reference surface to reconstruct Green's functions which relate the receiver locations in the acquisition area to the target;
• and
• utilizing the Green's functions and the prestack seismic data to determine subsurface characteristics of the subsurface region.