Some Minor Flaws I've Noticed

[StarlightLioness]

I concur that the trench in Simba's return scene is a now-dry riverbed. Scar's reign ruined everything. Remember, Sarabi even says "there's no food, no water." So the river was there (as you can see in the shot with Mufasa and Simba) but is no longer.

[Regulus]

As for the Elephant graveyard being surrounded by water, remember those scenes of Simba and Nala frolicking through shallow water during IJCWTBK? As abstract as that whole sequence was, those parts made it seem like like they did cross a body of water of some kind.

You're right, I totally forgot about that.

I also agree that the trench in the scene of Simba's return is the dried-up riverbed -- in this screenshot, you can see the river in roughly the same position relative to Pride Rock. (Whoops -- never mind, looks like CGW beat me to it!)

I wouldn't think the river would be that deep, though. But I guess it's possible.

[hotCoco21]

(...later in the quote...)

And now, we're back at Priderock, years later. Simba runs through the desert, and ends up here, north of Priderock. What happened? Where did that trench come from? Go back up to the third picture, and you won't see it.

The trench-type-thing in 2nd the picture appears to be a dried up river. In the 1st picture, there is a river that looks similar in shape to the trench, so I believe this is the answer to that. Good luck with your geography of the movie; I've been wondering about it for a while now, too.