Hydraulic changes caused by tunneling at the Aspo Hard Rock Laboratory (HRL) in Sweden have been investigated over a period of 2a using different hydrochemical approaches, i.e. noble gas content, isotopic measurements and major ion concentrations. The dissolved noble gases (He-4 and Ne contents, and the ratio of He-3/He-4, Ar-40/Ar-36), Stable isotopes, chemical concentrations of major ions, and Cl-36/Cl ratios, were determined in groundwater samples collected in the tunnel from borehole sections isolated by inflated packers. Groundwater was categorized into 3 groups based on He-4 and Cl- contents: undisturbed groundwater (i.e. prior to tunnel construction) with high He-4 and Cl- contents, groundwater that has been gradually changed by mixing with Baltic seawater and whose He-4 and Cl- contents have gradually increased with increasing depth, and groundwater that has been totally changed due to a rapid mixing of Baltic seawater and/or shallow groundwater and whose He-4 and Cl- contents are extremely low compared with other samples collected at the same surrounding depth. The oldest groundwater with a high salinity of more than 14,000 mg l(-1) of Cl- is estimated to be more than 1.8 Ma old. The groundwater residence time ranges from 0.9 to 900 Ka in the mixing-zone. Groundwater in the disturbed zone where rapid mixing has occurred is hard to date reliably and its primary hydrochemical character has already been lost. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.