Integrated geopython applications for sedimentary and cyclostratigraphic analysis: introducing EssefiSedInterpreter and EssefiCyclo packages for high resolution study of the Holocene-Anthropocene-Great Acceleration transitions in Tunisian wetlands

Disentangling anthropogenic signatures of the Anthropocene and the Great Acceleration from natural Holocene climatic oscillations requires high-resolution datasets and transparent computational workflows. This study introduces a “Geopython” ecosystem consisting of two original open-source applications: EssefiSedInterpreter and EssefiCyclo. EssefiSedInterpreter automates sedimentological characterization by integrating image-based morphoscopy (utilizing “Solidity” as a rigorous proxy for grain rugosity) and End-Member Mixing Analysis (EMMA) via Non-Negative Least Squares (NNLS) optimization. Performance validation against industry-standard FRITSCH laser granulometry across 11 samples from Bizerte Lagoon demonstrated a high degree of fidelity, with an average relative error of only 3.06%. EssefiCyclo effectively isolated the non-stationary industrial surges of the Chaffar exoreic system, identifying underlying solar (Schwabe, Hale, Suess), atmospheric (NAO, Mediterranean Oscillation), and oceanographic (AMO) cycles. This integrated ecosystem provides a robust, auditable alternative to proprietary “black-box” software, empowering researchers to transform noisy stratigraphic records into genetically meaningful paleoenvironmental histories. Furthermore, the tool addresses the “geochronological gap” in environments where radiometric dating is sparse. By applying Lomb-Scargle periodograms and a novel “Inverse Cyclostratigraphy” module, the software tunes stratigraphic depth to global deterministic clocks. Applying this to a 78-cm core from Sebkha Mhabeul (380 samples at 2-mm resolution), the tool successfully identified an optimal sedimentation rate of 6.58 years/sample. This enabled the construction of a continuous 2500-year age model, capturing distinct climatic intervals including the Little Ice Age, the Medieval Climate Anomaly, and the Roman Warm Period.