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GEOID (from Gr. yij, the earth)
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GEOID (from Gr. yij, the earth), an imaginary surface employed by geodesists which has the property that every element of it is perpendicular to the plumb-line where that line cuts it. Compared with the " spheroid of reference " the surface of the geoid is in general depressed over the oceans and raised over the great land masses. (See EARTH, FIGURE OF THE.) GEOK-TEPE, a former fortress of the Turkomans, in Russian Transcaspia, in the oasis of Akhal-tekke, on the Transcaspian railway, 28 m. N.W. of Askabad. It consisted of a walled enclosure in circuit, the wall being 18 ft. high and 20 to 30 ft. thick. In December r88o the place was attacked by 6000 Russians under General Skobelev, and after a siege of twenty-three days was carried by storm, although the defenders numbered 25,000. A monument and a small museum com- memorate the event.