Here's why:

* Lithosphere: The rigid outermost layer of Earth, composed of the crust and the uppermost part of the mantle.

* Tectonic plates: Large, irregularly shaped slabs of the lithosphere that move over the asthenosphere (a layer of the upper mantle). These plates carry the continents and ocean basins.

Therefore, the tectonic plates are the sections of the lithosphere that carry the crust.