Lithospheric plates are regions of Earth's crust and upper mantle. This is the rigid solid part of the Earth. This solid surface is fractured into plates that move across a the plasticine like mantle. The term plasticine refers to something a bit like plasticine that you may be familiar with in your younger years. While it's generally regarded as reasonably solid, it moves very slowly like extremely thick and viscous honey.
There are 2 types of crust on the lithosphere, oceanic and continental. Oceanic lithosphere is slightly denser and is up to 100 km thick. Continental lithosphere is thicker (up to 150 km) and is made up of less dense rock.
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