Lake Slavonia

{{Infobox body of water

| name = Lake Slavonia

| image = Lake Slavonia.png

| caption = Map of the lake

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| location = Pannonian Plain

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| type = former lake

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| basin_countries = modern day Serbia, Croatia, Romania and Bosnia and Herzegovina{{cite journal |author1= Mathias Harzhauser |author2= Oleg Mandic |date=2008 |title=Neogene lake systems of Central and South-Eastern Europe: 3 Faunal diversity, gradients and interrelations |doi=10.1016/j.palaeo.2007.12.013 |journal=Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology |volume=260 |issue=3-4 |pages=417–434 }}

| length = {{convert|290|km|mi}}

| width = {{convert|120|km|mi}}

| area = {{convert|28000|km|mi}}

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| islands = Fruška Gora

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}}

The Lake Slavonia,{{efn|{{lang-sh-Latn-Cyrl|Jezero Slavonija|Језеро Славонија}}, {{langx|hu|Szlavóniai-tó}}, {{langx|ro|Lacul Slavonia}}, {{langx|fr|Lac de Slavonie}}, {{langx|de|Slawonien See}}}} alternatively Paludina Lake,{{cite journal |author1= Filip Anđelković |author2= Dejan Radivojević |date=2021 |title=The Serbian Lake Pannon Formations – Their Significance and Interregional Correlation |doi=10.2298/GABP210420007A |journal=Geoloski anali Balkanskoga poluostrva |volume=82 |issue=2 |pages=43–67 |doi-access=free }} was an ancient fresh-water lake that developed from the middle Pliocene to the early Pleistocene in the southern part of the Pannonian Basin at the time of final retraction of the Pannonian Sea.{{cite journal |author1= Davor Pavelić |author2= Marijan Kovačić |date=2018 |title=Sedimentology and stratigraphy of the Neogene rift-type North Croatian Basin (Pannonian Basin System, Croatia): A review |doi=10.1016/j.marpetgeo.2018.01.026 |journal=Marine and Petroleum Geology |volume=91 |issue= |pages=455–469 }} The lake was located in the area of modern-day Vojvodina in northern Serbia and eastern Slavonia in Croatia.

In the Pliocene, favourable climatic and geodynamic conditions in southeastern Europe led to the development of extensive, long-lasting lakes like Lake Slavonia.{{cite journal |author1= Oleg Mandic |author2= Tomislav Kurečić |author3= Thomas A. Neubauer |author4= Mathias Harzhauser |date=2015 |title=Stratigraphic and paleogeographic significance of lacustrine mollusks from the Pliocene Viviparus beds in central Croatia |doi=10.4154/GC.2015.15 |journal=Geologia Croatica |volume=68 |issue=3 |pages=179–207 }} These lakes saw a rapid diversification of viviparid snails during the warming period reaching its peak between 3.3 and 2.9 million years ago when temperatures rose by as much as 10 °C.{{cite web |url=http://geol.pmf.hr/~jsremac/radovi/znanstveni/2017_MIDDLE%20MIOCENE%20BADENIAN.pdf |title=7th International Workshop Neogene of Central and South-Eastern Europe |publisher=Croatian Geological Society |date=2017}}

M. Neumayr and C. M. Paul, in their 1875 study, used the molluscs from Lake Slavonia to develop a regional biostratigraphy, allowing precise stratigraphic analysis of deposits spanning over 600 km along the southern boundary of the Pannonian Basin. They originally named it Paludina Lake but over time researchers introduced the new name of the lake.{{cite journal |author1= Tomislav Kurečić |author2= Tomislav Kurečić |author3= Anita Grizelj |date=2021 |title=Mineral assemblage and provenance of the Pliocene Viviparus beds from the Area of Vukomeričke Gorice (Central Croatia) |doi=10.4154/gc.2021.16 |journal=Geologia Croatica |volume=74 |issue=3 |pages=253–271 }}