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The asthenosphere (from an invented Greek a + sthenos "without strength") is the region of the Earth between 100-200 km below the surface — but perhaps extending as deep as 400 km — that is the weak or "soft" zone in the upper mantle. It lies just below the lithosphere, which is involved in plate movements and isostatic adjustments. In spite of its heat, pressures keep it plastic, and it has a relatively low density. Seismic waves, the speed of which decrease with the softness of a medium, pass relatively slowly through the asthenosphere, the cue that originally alerted seismologists to its presence; thus it has been given the name low-velocity zone.