Scientific evidence indicates that fossil fuels (oil, coal, and natural gas) form in areas where plates are colliding and tiny, dead organisms can get buried deep in the crust as those plates collide. This means scientists expect to find fossil fuel deposits near the edges of continents. However, large fossil fuel deposits are also found in deserts and even in arctic areas where conditions are currently not suitable for fossil fuels to form. 9. Put the following steps in chronological order (first at the top to last at the bottom) to communicate a logical explanation for how the above situation can be caused.
1. Over millions of years, the Earth's plates shift and move, altering the locations of continents and creating new environments.
2. Fossil fuels form in areas where plates are colliding, such as near the edges of continents.
3. As continents drift and shift, fossil fuel deposits that formed in one location may be carried to different environments, such as deserts or arctic areas.
4. These fossil fuel deposits remain preserved in these new environments, even though the conditions there are not suitable for the formation of new fossil fuels.