Error analysis of the converted wave deduced by equivalent velocity assumption

Based on the assumption of the equivalent velocity and offset, the converted wave travel-time equation, which has a double square root due to the asymmetric ray-path of the down-going P-wave and the up-coming S-wave, can be transformed into a single square root equation if the common scatterpoint (CSP) gathers are binned. This method simplifies the equation and decreases the errors of converted wave migration transferred by P-wave velocity error, compared to the equivalent offset method (EOM) migration proposed by Bancroft, Geiger and Foltinek . In this paper, the errors caused by the introduction of equivalent velocity for the PS-wave are analysed in detail. The discrete errors and effects introduced by discretization of the equivalent offset are presented, and finally the conditions for applying CSP gathers for PS-wave processing under the control of reasonable error limits are derived. 2012 ASEG