Simplified TTI pure qP-wave equation implemented in the space domain and applied for reverse time migration in tilted transversely isotropic media#xD;

Although it is possible to image important geological structures by assuming that the Earth's subsurface is a homogeneous and isotropic medium, there is inevitably a loss of information, especially in more complex geological media. Therefore, it is needed to include anisotropy in seismic imaging, particularly the most common in geophysics: the transversely isotropic medium. However, this also means a considerable increase in the computational cost of the reverse time migration (RTM). Thus, a new pseudo-acoustic wave equation for pure qP-wave in tilted transversely isotropic (TTI) media, which can also be efficiently implemented using the finite difference (FD) method with the unit vector method (UVM), is proposed, aiming to reduce the computational cost of the RTM. The proposed equation solved with fast Fourier transform is shown to be exact and faster for seismic migration than other equations found in the literature, but a greater efficiency is achievable by using FD to compute the second derivatives. Conversely, when solved with UVM, it is shown to be faster and kinematically accurate, whereas its dynamics are not accurately represented, as it is an acoustic approximation. Nevertheless, this new equation is tested on synthetic data, and its efficacy is demonstrated by modeling and migrating TTI data found in the literature.