diff --git a/src/space.c b/src/space.c
index 7565853e047bf10b590e7a5fe50ea42705f8902a..e59b18795e85f77501d1245a328d8fed23bef270 100644
--- a/src/space.c
+++ b/src/space.c
@@ -1440,6 +1440,7 @@ void space_split_mapper(void *map_data, int num_cells, void *extra_data) {
 
     const int count = c->count;
     const int gcount = c->gcount;
+    const int depth = c->depth;
     int maxdepth = 0;
     float h_max = 0.0f;
     int ti_end_min = max_nr_timesteps, ti_end_max = 0;
@@ -1449,8 +1450,8 @@ void space_split_mapper(void *map_data, int num_cells, void *extra_data) {
     struct xpart *xparts = c->xparts;
 
     /* Check the depth. */
-    while (c->depth > (maxdepth = s->maxdepth)) {
-      atomic_cas(&s->maxdepth, maxdepth, c->depth);
+    while (depth > (maxdepth = s->maxdepth)) {
+      atomic_cas(&s->maxdepth, maxdepth, depth);
     }
 
     /* If the depth is too large, we have a problem and should stop. */