Maria Box
mariabox.bsky.social
Maria Box
@mariabox.bsky.social
PhD student at Northumbria University (UK), currently researching past climate in northern Mongolia. Generally excited by all speleothems great and small
Pinned
Intro post! I'm Maria, a UK-based PhD student interested in continental climates. In my current project I use stalagmites from northern Mongolia to reconstruct past environments and permafrost extent over the past 500 ka. I've also worked in central Aus and the west US! Nice to meet you, bluesky :)
Reposted by Maria Box
At #AGU25, tree ring scientist Caroline Leland of LDEO shared her research on dshared research on climate sensitivity of wood from Siberian Pine and Larch in North-central Mongolia to improve or build upon reconstructions of long-term climate. ➡️ Lamont at AGU25: https://lamont.columbia.edu/agu25
Caroline Leland at AGU: Temperature Signals of Siberian Pine and Larch in North-central Mongolia
YouTube video by Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory
youtube.com
December 20, 2025 at 8:15 PM
Reposted by Maria Box
Amid the miasma of institutional and Edtech-commercial hectoring on the imperative rapidly to embrace GenAI tools for research and writing, a simple pearl of wisdom to share with students and colleagues in 2026 (or even 2025).
December 20, 2025 at 11:20 AM
t'was the week before Christmas, and all through southwest Germany... trees are blossoming? 😬
December 15, 2025 at 4:06 PM
Reposted by Maria Box
Cuts to geology programmes, departmental mergers and shrinking university support threaten the long-term health of the discipline. Now, Jan Zalasiewicz examines the developing situation at the University of Leicester: geoscientist.online/sections/vie...

#Geology #Geoscience #HigherEducation
Geology imperilled - GEOSCIENTIST
In recent years, universities across many western nations, including several in the UK, have closed Earth science courses and downsized their geology departments. The University of Leicester is the la...
geoscientist.online
November 26, 2025 at 4:08 PM
Bouncing between Mainz and Heidelberg for the next few weeks, with a detour to Frankfurt on the side. Here on work. Of course. Taking a thorough survey of regional Christmas markets is just a side project...
December 4, 2025 at 5:57 AM
Reposted by Maria Box
I feel you, ancient Mongolian ceramic hedgehog. I feel you.
November 26, 2025 at 10:17 AM
standing outside getting liquid nitrogen in 'feels like -3 weather' makes me miss my cozy warm 1.5 degree caves 🥶
November 19, 2025 at 3:35 PM
Reposted by Maria Box
This looks worth reading:
Mara McPartland et al. (2025) Climate of the Past @egu-cl.bsky.social
doi.org/10.5194/cp-2...
@egu.eu
🧪 ⚒️ 👩‍🔬
#PaleoSky
The colors of proxy noise
Abstract. The complex biological and physical processes that preserve paleoclimate information over centuries or longer introduce variations in proxy time series that are unrelated to the true climate...
doi.org
November 5, 2025 at 10:34 AM
Reposted by Maria Box
Interested in #uranium isotopes and their potential use as #redox proxy in karst systems? Looking for a PhD project or know someone who might? DM me for more details! ☢️ @mariabox.bsky.social @pucicu.de @bgs.ac.uk @tinyicybubbles.bsky.social @olakwiecien3.bsky.social
October 29, 2025 at 8:44 AM
Spot the Northumbria speleo group 😉
Kicking off #S42025 officially.
October 22, 2025 at 2:22 PM
Not quite #overlyhonestmethods territory, but "We conducted a monitoring study to determine how cool these caves are" is my new favourite way to describe cave monitoring
October 12, 2025 at 8:42 AM
In the UK, it's not uncommon to find urban stalactites growing in old tunnels. However, in a 15th century battery running under #carlislecastle, I saw my first ever urban *stalagmites*. Complete with active soda straw drips above! (Larissa for scale)
October 2, 2025 at 9:35 PM
Reposted by Maria Box
Afternoon folks. I'm delighted to announce our manuscript "Speleothem evidence for Late Miicene extreme Arctic amplification" was published online today. Happy reading! @speleoseb.bsky.social @thomasopel.bsky.social cp.copernicus.org/articles/21/...
Speleothem evidence for Late Miocene extreme Arctic amplification – an analogue for near-future anthropogenic climate change?
Abstract. The Miocene provides an excellent climatic analogue for near-future runaway anthropogenic warming, with atmospheric CO2 concentrations and global average temperatures similar to those projec...
cp.copernicus.org
September 8, 2025 at 12:50 PM
Not saying I'm too attached to my samples, but today I tucked a stalagmite in
September 9, 2025 at 1:47 PM
Reposted by Maria Box
"When the first of August came round, the Professor realized he had pleasantly trifled away nearly two months at a task which should have taken little more than a week."

--Willa Cather, 1925 and timeless
August 1, 2025 at 12:17 PM
Duddo Five Stones, first stone circle I've ever visited! They're made of soft sandstone and the deep vertical erosion rills betray the >4,000 years they've been standing
August 2, 2025 at 4:15 PM
Reposted by Maria Box
Geologic Periods

xkcd.com/3120/
July 28, 2025 at 11:58 PM
Reposted by Maria Box
Newcastle central station, photo by Sally Ann Norman.
July 18, 2025 at 6:40 PM
Reposted by Maria Box
E-see you all the paleoclimate enthusiasts at our ICCP speleothem lecture series-July episode with @mariabox.bsky.social
Date & Time: 18th July, 16:00 KST
Zoom link: pusan.zoom.us/j/8213003163...
July 17, 2025 at 3:15 PM
I always knew in theory that a speleothem is a sedimentary rock, but I've never seen a cross-bedded stalactite before 😂
July 15, 2025 at 12:40 PM
Reposted by Maria Box
WeTransfer just changed their TOS giving themselves permission to train AI on any content you transfer and produce derivative works based on content you transfer that they are allowed to monetize and you are not allowed payment for.

Stop using WeTransfer.
July 14, 2025 at 11:05 PM
this website is wild... I'd say it's like the astrology of climate 'science', but astrology has more coherent terminology 🤦‍♀️ oh lord
July 14, 2025 at 8:52 PM
Reposted by Maria Box
Read the latest on how ancient cave deposits warn of future permafrost loss! Kudos to a fantastic international team🦣 💪 @olakwiecien3.bsky.social @thomasopel.bsky.social @mariabox.bsky.social @pucicu.de @katharinehayhoe.com @northumbriauni.bsky.social
Scientists have found evidence that Asia was free of permafrost all the way to the Arctic Ocean when Earth’s average temperature was 4.5˚C warmer than today. The results suggest dominantly permafrost-free conditions across the whole Northern Hemisphere during this time period.
A permafrost-free Arctic region when global temperatures were 4.5˚C higher than today
Taba-Ba’astakh Cliffs, Northern Siberia
www.earth.ox.ac.uk
July 3, 2025 at 12:31 AM