Is it possible for an environmental puzzle to be no longer solvable?

I'm playing The Witness for the first time. I've discovered the "environmental puzzles", but I have also found something that seems like it would be one, but is uncompletable given the current game state:

In the starting area, there is a glowing column that you eventually turn off along with the forcefield to allow exiting the area. I now think this was very likely an environmental puzzle and I would have been able to align the glowing column with the sun as the start of the path. But I can't find a way to reactivate the column.

  1. Are there any environmental puzzles that can be rendered uncompletable?

  2. Is the one I have referred to in the spoiler blocks one of them?

  3. If not, then could you provide a hint as to how it should be completed despite the seemingly missing essential ingredient?

Picture supplement to the description:

The sun aligned on top of the unlit pillar


Solution 1:

Yes they're all possible. That one in particular is extremely special.
Minor spoilers:

It becomes possible to reset it later in the game

Major spoilers!

After beating the game, you find a way of turning that column back on, which leads to the secret ending