About this puzzle
Weathering, erosion, and deposition are the three steps that slowly reshape every landscape on Earth, and this list follows them in order. It starts with the ways rock breaks apart, like Frost Wedging, Abrasion, Oxidation, and Acid Rain, moves on to the forces that carry pieces away, such as Glaciers and Gravity, and ends with what they build: Deltas, Sand Dunes, and Moraines.
The notes below explain each term in a sentence or two, with real places like the Grand Canyon and Half Dome as examples. This weathering word search fits a third through eighth grade earth science unit, works as a vocabulary review before a test, and makes a useful sub plan because students learn something while they solve.
The 32 words in this puzzle
Every word, with a short note. Handy for teaching the vocabulary before or after solving.
In every version (12)
- Canyon
- A canyon is a deep, narrow valley with steep sides, usually carved by a river. The Colorado River carved the Grand Canyon over millions of years.
- Cave
- Many caves form when slightly acidic groundwater dissolves limestone underground. Mammoth Cave in Kentucky is the longest known cave system in the world.
- Delta
- A delta is land built from sediment where a river meets a lake or ocean. It is named after the triangle-shaped Greek letter delta.
- Erosion
- Erosion is the moving of weathered rock and soil from one place to another by water, wind, ice, or gravity. Weathering breaks rock; erosion carries it away.
- Glacier
- A glacier is a huge, slow-moving mass of ice. As it moves, it scrapes and plucks rock from the land, carving U-shaped valleys.
- Landslide
- A landslide is a fast downhill slide of rock and soil. Heavy rain, earthquakes, or steep slopes with loose material can set one off.
- River
- Rivers are one of the strongest forces of erosion on Earth. Moving water carries sand and stones that scour the riverbed, slowly cutting valleys and canyons.
- Rock
- Rock is the solid material that makes up Earth's crust. Over time, weathering breaks even the hardest rock into boulders, pebbles, sand, and eventually soil.
- Sand Dune
- A sand dune is a hill of sand piled up by the wind. Dunes slowly move as wind blows sand up one side and it tumbles down the other.
- Soil
- Soil is a mix of weathered rock bits, decayed plants and animals, water, and air. Building up just an inch of new soil can take hundreds of years or longer.
- Weathering
- Weathering is the breaking down of rock into smaller pieces where it sits. It can be physical, like cracking, or chemical, like rusting or dissolving.
- Wind
- Wind erodes land by picking up sand and dust and blasting them against rock. In deserts, wind-blown sand can carve rocks into odd shapes and pile sand into dunes.
Added in Medium and Hard (8)
- Arch
- A natural arch forms when weathering and erosion wear a hole through a thin wall of rock. Arches National Park in Utah has more than 2,000 of them.
- Boulder
- Geologists call a rock larger than about 10 inches across a boulder. Glaciers can carry boulders for miles and drop them in odd places, where they are called erratics.
- Deposition
- Deposition happens when water, wind, or ice slows down and drops the sediment it was carrying. It builds new landforms like deltas and dunes.
- Gravity
- Gravity pulls weathered rock and soil downhill. This movement, from slow soil creep to sudden rockfalls, is called mass wasting.
- Limestone
- Limestone dissolves slowly in water that is slightly acidic. Over thousands of years this can carve out underground caves, along with stalactites and stalagmites.
- Pebble
- A pebble is a small rounded stone, bigger than a grain of sand but smaller than a cobble. Rivers and waves tumble pebbles until their sharp edges wear smooth.
- Sediment
- Sediment is the loose material, such as sand, silt, clay, and pebbles, that is moved and dropped by erosion. Over time it can harden into sedimentary rock.
- Sinkhole
- A sinkhole forms when underground rock like limestone dissolves and the ground above collapses into the empty space. Florida has many sinkholes because of its limestone bedrock.
Added in Hard (12)
- Abrasion
- Abrasion is the wearing away of rock by other rocks and particles rubbing against it. It is why river stones and beach pebbles end up smooth and rounded.
- Acid Rain
- Rain is naturally slightly acidic, but pollution from burning fuels can make it more so. Acid rain speeds up the weathering of rock, statues, and buildings.
- Exfoliation
- Exfoliation is when curved sheets of rock peel off a large rock surface, like layers of an onion. Half Dome in Yosemite National Park was shaped partly this way.
- Floodplain
- A floodplain is the flat land beside a river that floods when the water runs high. Each flood leaves a fresh layer of sediment, which makes floodplain soil very fertile.
- Frost Wedging
- Frost wedging happens when water seeps into a crack, freezes, and expands by about 9 percent. Repeated freezing and thawing pushes the crack wider until the rock splits.
- Hoodoo
- A hoodoo is a tall, thin spire of rock shaped mostly by frost wedging and rain. Bryce Canyon National Park in Utah has the largest collection of hoodoos in the world.
- Lichen
- Lichen is a partnership between a fungus and an alga or bacterium. It grows on bare rock and releases acids that slowly break the rock down, a kind of biological weathering.
- Meander
- A meander is a loop or bend in a river. Water flows faster on the outside of the bend, eroding the bank, and drops sediment on the slower inside.
- Moraine
- A moraine is a ridge or pile of rock and soil left behind by a glacier. Long Island in New York was formed partly from glacial moraines.
- Oxidation
- Oxidation is chemical weathering that happens when oxygen reacts with iron in rock. It forms iron oxides, the same rusty red color seen in many desert cliffs.
- Root Wedging
- Root wedging happens when plant roots grow into cracks in rock and slowly force them wider. Trees growing out of cliffs and sidewalks lifted by roots are everyday examples.
- Stalactite
- A stalactite hangs from a cave ceiling like an icicle, built drip by drip from minerals left behind by water. Stalagmites grow upward from the floor beneath them.
A few facts to share while you solve
- The Grand Canyon is about 277 river miles long and more than a mile deep in places, all carved by the Colorado River and erosion over millions of years.
- Some caves form when slightly acidic water dissolves limestone. The water picks up a weak acid called carbonic acid from carbon dioxide in the air and soil.
- The Mississippi River carries so much sediment that it has built a huge delta in Louisiana, adding land to the coast over thousands of years.
Four versions of this puzzle
Pick a version with the buttons above the grid. Each one has its own grid and answer key, and your progress on each is saved separately in this browser.
| Version | Words | Grid | Directions |
|---|---|---|---|
| Easy | 12 | 11 × 11 | The 12 most familiar words, reading forward across and down. |
| Medium | 20 | 14 × 14 | Twenty words across, down and diagonally. No backwards words. |
| Hard | 32 | 17 × 17 | Every word, in all eight directions including backwards, with look-alike filler letters. |
| Large print | 12 | 11 × 11 | The 12 most familiar words on a small grid with big letters. No backwards words. |
Hard and large print versions
Hard weathering word search: all 32 words on a 17 × 17 grid, hidden forward, backward, up, down and along both diagonals, with filler letters borrowed from the word list. Print it without the word list for an extra challenge. Play the hard version, or see all hard word searches.
Large print weathering word search: the 12 most familiar words on a 11 × 11 grid, printed with big letters and a big word list, and no backwards words. Play the large print version, or see all large print word searches.
Printing this word search
Press Print / PDF above the puzzle. You get a clean one-page sheet with the title, the grid, a word list with tick boxes, and optional name and date lines. The answer key prints on a second page. Prefer a file? Download it as a PDF or an image to print later or drop into a worksheet. Whatever version is showing on screen is the one that prints, and the large print version prints with bigger letters.
How to play online
- Find a word from the list in the grid. Scanning for its first letter is the quickest way.
- Drag across the word from its first letter to its last. On a phone, you can also tap the first letter, then the last.
- Found words get highlighted and crossed off. Stuck? Hint circles the first letter of a word you haven’t found.
Read the full guide to solving word searches, with tips that make big grids much faster.
Questions and answers
What is the difference between weathering and erosion?
Weathering breaks rock into smaller pieces without moving it very far. Erosion is the next step, carrying those pieces away with water, wind, ice, or gravity. Deposition finishes the process when the pieces are dropped in a new place. This puzzle includes words for all three steps.
What grade level is this weathering word search for?
It fits most earth science units from third through eighth grade. Words like Canyon, Glacier, and Sand Dune are familiar to younger students, while Exfoliation, Oxidation, and Deposition match the vocabulary in upper elementary and middle school standards.
Which types of weathering are in the word list?
Physical weathering appears as Frost Wedging, Abrasion, and Exfoliation. Chemical weathering is covered by Oxidation, Acid Rain, and dissolving Limestone. Lichen represents biological weathering, where living things help break rock apart.
Is there an answer key for this weathering word search?
Yes. Choose Print / PDF above the puzzle and keep “Add an answer key page” ticked. The key prints on its own page, with every word highlighted. While playing online, Show answers outlines any words you haven’t found yet.
Can I print copies for my class or group?
Yes. Every puzzle on BetterWordSearch is free to print for personal, classroom, library and homeschool use. Print as many copies as you need. To change the words or make several different versions of the grid, use the word search maker.
What changes between Easy, Medium, Hard and Large print?
Easy hides the 12 most familiar words, reading left to right and top to bottom. Medium uses 20 words and adds diagonals. Hard hides all 32 words in every direction, including backwards, with look-alike filler letters. Large print uses the same words as Easy on a small grid and prints with big letters.
