The impact of a giant meteorite hitting the Earth may resemble a volcanic eruption.

This was revealed during a forensic investigation by a team of volcanologists where they were able to piece together the impact of a meteorite that slammed into the Earth a billion years ago along the coast of what is now Scotland.

The volcanologists analyzed a layer of ejected debris from this huge meteorite impact and discovered that the debris moved across the ground as rapid, dense, ground-hugging currents of gas and debris, similar to the pyroclastic density currents that flow during volcanic eruptions.

The researchers said that while direct observation of what happens when a meteorite hits the Earth, they can pick through impact debris that has not been eroded away and forensically reconstruct these catastrophic events.

Mike Branney, one of the study team members from the University of Leicester in England, said the way that and dust stick together seems identical.

"Moist ash from explosive volcanoes sticks together in the atmosphere to fall out as millimeter-sized pellets. Where these drop back into a hot pyroclastic density current, they grow into larger layered structures known as accretionary lapilli," he noted.

Studying the finely preserved deposit in northwest Scotland where the meteorite made a impact showed that both types of these "volcanic' particles - pellets and lapilli - are produced.