which layer has the property of plasticity and allows the tectonic plates to slowly move?
By Andrew Alden. The lithosphere is the brittle outer layer of the solid Earth. The plates of plate tectonics are segments of the lithosphere. The lithosphere is basically the layer of the Earth that is strong enough to flex rather than flow. Its top is easy to seeit's at the Earth's surfacebut the base of the lithosphere is a transition rather than a sharp boundary.