The settling of the dredged soil may vary with mineral composition, grain size distribution, initial water content and salt concentration of suspension of the site. A series of settling column test was performed to investigate the behaviour of solid suspension material from dredging and reclamation. Settling mode was divided into four types from the observation of interface and settling curves of clay minerals and marine clay samples, and the relationship charts of salt concentration and the initial water content were established to use in the dredging operation with any salt concentration. The critical initial water content which was defined as a threshold of zone settling and the consolidation settling was varied with salt concentration of water and was proportional to the plasticity of soil in sea water.