[en] We analyse the evolutionary behavior of the solution of a pair of coupled quasilinear parabolic equations modeling the diffusion of heat and mass of a magnetically confined plasma. The solutions's behavior, due to the nonlinear diffusion coefficients, exhibits many new phenomena. In short time, the solution converges into a highly organized symmetric pattern that is almost completely independent of initial data. The asymptotic dynamics then become very simple and take place in a finite dimensional space. These conclusions are backed by extensive numerical experimentation