what does "area" here in this sentence refer to?

[resoluteman]

"Then the lumps of clay are placed on a metal grid in order to break up the big chunks of clay into much smaller areas, which fall through the metal grid onto a roller."

What does word smaller areas here refer to ? Is smaller pieces basically what is reffered to as areas ?

 

[Copyright]

What is your source for this? I would not expect "areas."

 

[resoluteman]

What is your source for this? I would not expect "areas."

this is from IELTS writting task 1 sample which is 9 band-scale . And what do you mean by "I wouldnt expect" ?

 

[Copyright]

I would say that "lumps" become "pieces" when they are broken up. Not "areas." I wouldn't memorize this for use with the general public.