The dry wet characteristics of aquitards have environmental indicative significance and are key parameters affecting soil engineering geological characteristics. Therefore, studying the response mechanisms of soil moisture characteristics to paleoclimate and paleoenvironment since the Late Pleistocene is of significant importance.Methods: 2787 water content samples were collected and tested for liquid limit, plastic limit, and particle size in the Yangtze River Estuary area. Based on the drawn water content geological profile combined with dating data, grain size data, lithology, color, water content etc., perform paleoclimate and paleoenvironment inversion since the Late Pleistocene.Results: The results indicate that the lithology of the Qp31 aquitard is mainly silty clay, with a color of yellow gray, which is a coastal sedimentary facies with an average water content of 28.4% and high spatial variability in the Yangtze River Estuary area. The lithology of the first hard soil layer in Qp32 is mainly composed of silty clay, with a grayish yellow color. It is deposited in the river floodplain facies, with an average water content of 28.5%. The Qh aquitards can be classified as silty clay, clay (in small amounts), and soft soil, all of which are reduced in color except for the surface soil. Among them, soft soil has high water content characteristics, which are greater than 32%.Conclusions: The water content of the first hard soil layer shows an increasing trend with depth, indicating that the climate gradually becomes cooler and drier from bottom to top. The Qh aquitard has a high water content, which is mainly related to the warm and humid climate. Part of the middle and deep Qh aquitards have low water content, even below 25%, which is related to cold events such as 8.2 ka, 5.5 ka, 4.2 ka, and 2.8 ka. The water content of Qh deep aquitards are significantly negatively correlated with burial depth and distance from the coastline, indicating that the newer the sedimentary age of the soil and the shorter the distance from the coastline, the higher the water content of the soil.