Escarpment Overlay

The Dallas Escarpment Zone is an environmentally sensitive, steep, wooded area in Southwest Dallas, defined by geological formations, where development is heavily restricted due to its fragile nature and unstable slopes. This layer displays the projected contact line between two geological formations - the Austin Chalk and the Eagle Ford Shale. The Escarpment Zone is defined in the Dallas Development Code, Section 51A-5.201, as the corridor of real property between the following described vertical planes: The greater of 125 feet above chalk and shale contact, or 35 feet beyond the crest (that point above the escarpment line where the slope becomes less than 4:1); and The greater of 85 feet below the chalk and shale contact, or 10 feet beyond the toe (that point below the escarpment line where the slope becomes less than 5:1). This Layer does not depict the full extent of the Geologically Similar Areas (GSA) of the escarpment, which includes all of the creeks flowing through the Escarpment Zone.