Fast beam migration using plane-wave destructor (PWD) beam forming

In some embodiments, input seismic data is decomposed into Gaussian beams using plane wave destructor (PWD) filters. The beams are used in a fast beam migration method to generate a seismic image of a subsurface volume of interest. PWD filters are applied to groups of neighboring traces to generate a field of dips/curvatures that fit the input trace data. Beam wavelets are then formed according to the dip/curvature field. Multiple dips (PWD slopes) may be determined at each location in time/space in order to handle intersecting reflection events. Exemplary methods allow an improvement in processing speed by more than an order of magnitude as compared to standard industry techniques such as Kirchhoff migration.