Same place | different time
Has this place always been a canyon?
Today a river cuts layered rock. The canyon itself is young compared with the rock it cuts.
this year
Now
A dry plateau. A river. Rock layers you can count with your eyes. The canyon is only a few million years in this form. The layers are far older.
Real observation
Photograph from Hopi Point. U.S. National Park Service. Public domain.
about 500 million years ago
A warm sea
In the early Paleozoic this region was often shallow tropical sea. The limestone and shale in the walls began as sediment in water.
Drawing. Not a photograph.
We never collect a child's precise location. These rooms are chosen, not detected.