e-Geoscience (electonic Geo-science) is thought to be the future research mode of Earth science after theory analysis, experiment observation and simulation computing. It can promote the innovation of traditional research mode of Earth science and improve the efficiency of Earth science research. However, as e-Geoscience is the newborn thing, there is no uniform and clear understanding about the essence, characteristics and development trend of e-Geoscience. Based on analysis of current research and authors′ practice, this paper puts forward the definition, connotation and technical framework of e-Geoscience in detail for the first time. e-Geoscience is the electronic environment for supporting Earth science research and all research activities on it. Its technical framework should contain four layers, i.e. information infrastructure, geo-resources, function services and application tools layer from bottom to top. The next generation information infrastructure, such as super speed internet, supercomputing clusters, is the basic of e-Geoscience and geo-resources sharing is the core, while cooperative research is its goal. Then, the research mode based on e-Geoscience is analyzed that has four obvious changes compared to traditional research mode. Finally, the authors design and develop the prototype application system of e-Geoscience, North Eastern Joint Scientific Exploration and Cooperative Research Platform. This platform can provide not only geo-data, bibliographies and models sharing, but also a series of tools for scientific exploration, such as exploration area virtual walkthrough, exploration routes and points pre-Selection on web GIS, field collection system based on PDA and so on. The practice proves that it can extremely save cost and improve the efficiency of across countries, interdisciplinary scientific exploration. 