Empirical predictions of soil effects on seismic ground shaking are related to 1-D seismic response analyses. The comparison focuses upon the peak ground acceleration (a
max
) and velocity (V
max
), the elastic acceleration response spectra (S
a
) and the average horizontal Fourier amplitudes over a short and an intermediate period band (AHFA, AHFA*). Empirical predictions in terms of site geology are within the overall range of analytical predictions for a
max
and V
max
, but they do not depict the detailed effects of seismic motion and site characteristics. In addition, they agree to analytical predictions of S
a
for relatively deep and flexible sites, but differ significantly for other sites. Empirical predictions in terms of the average shear wave velocity, agree well with analytical predictions for a
max
, V
max
, AHFA and AHFA* in the case of shallow and stiff sites subjected to weak seismic excitations, but they are relatively higher in the opposite case. Empirical predictions of S
a
are generally within the range of analytical predictions, although empirically predicted peak amplification can not be related to resonance between the soil and the superstructure.
