We propose a global framework for the Earth system to facilitate communication between the geoscience community, the public and policy makers. Geoscience research aims to understand the history and evolution of the Earth system. This combines the non-living and living parts of the Earth, especially through interactions of the lithosphere, biosphere and atmosphere as well as the other parts of the system, such as the asthenosphere, core and extraterrestrial influences. Such research considers a system that spans scales from microscopic (micrometer scale) to megascopic (many 1000 s of km scale), and from milliseconds to millions of years. To connect different parts of this immense system, we habitually use a wide range of ad hoc geological frameworks, systems and geological environment models, where different processes and features operate and combine. In consequence, one way to judge the significance of our work, and to increase its value, is to assess how the elements studied are integrated within the whole Earth system. This allows us to see what implications any study has for this greater Earth system. To do this successfully, our research needs a standard global framework to assess a study's relevance. However, such a global framework does not formally exist, and so this article looks at existing examples and proposes one that can systematically place research into a global geological context. This proposed framework has the advantage of being useful for communicating geological processes to other disciplines, and can be used for any type of Earth (or planetary) environment. This framework is a fundamental tool for geoscience communication and for outreach, especially through geological heritage (geoheritage). Geoheritage concerns the valuing and protection of geoscience and geological sites, and is a vital tool for communicating geoscience. It can be used to communicate our knowledge of global change, providing, through landscapes and outcrops, a story that renders the concepts and advances of geoscience accessible. Like our basic research, the concept of geoheritage evolves as our understanding of the Earth progresses, and these dual changes can be explained with the global framework. Geoheritage is a global activity and it needs a global framework to put sites into context. A revision of the UNESCO geological thematic studies was called for by the World Heritage Committee in 2014 (decision: 38 COM 8B.11), and this can be done with the input from the full geoscience community using this global geological framework.

Thus, for research, geoscience policy and for geoheritage, a global framework is now needed. The proposed framework can place any site in its geological environment, related to its lithospheric plate tectonic setting and its history. The framework has a solid-earth bias (lithosphere), but includes all other spheres, such as the biosphere and anthropogenic activity. Extraterrestrial influences, like solar variations and impacts are included. The framework is phenomenological, due to the necessity of grouping the features that we see, but these phenomena provide evidence of processes that we cannot see. The basic format is a table, a sketch of the Earth and a system diagram, three complementary and most powerful ways of depicting a system. A timeline, or stratigraphic column can be included, to show the evolution of geological history, and the table can be used as a ‘game board’ where one site migrates across from one set of conditions to another over time. The global framework allows any research site, area or subject to be set in the Earth's system, in a way that gives it context, allows comparisons and provides significance. We suggest that it can be a template for an internationally accepted version used to consolidate the necessary geoscience – geoheritage link and promote outreach.

我们提出了一个地球系统的全球框架，以促进地球科学界，公众和决策者之间的交流。地球科学研究旨在了解地球系统的历史和演化。它结合了地球的非生命和生命部分，尤其是通过岩石圈，生物圈和大气以及系统其他部分（如软流圈，核心和地外影响）的相互作用。此类研究考虑的系统范围从微观（微米级）到百万级（许多1000 s km级），范围从毫秒到数百万年。为了连接这个庞大系统的不同部分，我们习惯性地使用各种特殊的地质框架，系统和地质环境模型，不同的流程和功能在哪里运作并结合在一起。因此，一种判断我们工作的重要性并提高其价值的方法是评估所研究的元素如何整合到整个地球系统中。这使我们能够看到任何研究对这个更大的地球系统有什么影响。为了成功做到这一点，我们的研究需要一个标准的全球框架来评估研究的相关性。但是，这样的全球框架并不正式存在，因此本文着眼于现有示例，并提出了可以将研究系统地置于全球地质环境中的示例。该提议的框架的优点是可用于将地质过程传达给其他学科，并且可用于任何类型的地球（或行星）环境。该框架是进行地球科学交流和推广的基本工具，尤其是通过地质遗产（地理地理）。地质遗产关系到对地球科学和地质地点的估价和保护，并且是传达地球科学的重要工具。它可以用来传达我们对全球变化的知识，通过景观和露头提供一个故事，使地球科学的概念和进步变得可访问。像我们的基础研究一样，随着我们对地球的了解，地缘继承的概念也在不断发展，这些双重变化可以用全球框架来解释。地理遗产是一项全球活动，它需要一个全球框架来将站点置于上下文中。2014年，世界遗产委员会要求修订教科文组织的地质专题研究报告（第38 COM 8B.11号决定），

因此，对于研究，地球科学政策和地球遗产，现在需要一个全球框架。拟议的框架可以在其地质环境中放置任何地点，与其岩石圈板块的构造环境和历史有关。该框架有一个固定的地球偏见（岩石圈），但包括所有其他领域，例如生物圈和人为活动。包括地球外的影响，例如太阳的变化和影响。由于必须对我们看到的特征进行分组，因此该框架是现象学的，但是这些现象为我们看不到的过程提供了证据。基本格式是表格，地球示意图和系统图，这是三种互补且功能最强大的系统描述方式。可以包含时间轴或地层柱，以显示地质历史的演变，并且该表可以用作“游戏板”，其中一个站点会随着时间的推移从一组条件迁移到另一组条件。全球框架允许以地球环境为背景，可以进行比较并具有重要意义的方式在地球系统中设置任何研究地点，区域或主题。我们建议，它可以成为国际公认版本的模板，该版本用于巩固必要的地球科学-地球遗产链接并促进推广。