Various migration methods have been proposed to image high-angle geological structures and media with strong lateral velocity variations; however, the problems of low precision and high computational cost remain unresolved. To describe the seismic wave propagation in media with lateral velocity variations and to image high-angle structures, we propose the generalized screen propagator based on particle swarm optimization （PSO-GSP）, for the precise fitting of the single-square-root operator. We use the 2D SEG/EAGE salt model to test the proposed PSO-GSP migration method to image the faults beneath the salt dome and compare the results to those of the conventional high-order generalized screen propagator （GSP） migration and split-step Fourier （SSF） migration. Moreover, we use 2D marine data from the South China Sea to show that the PSO-GSP migration can better image strong reflectors than conventional imaging methods.
