Abstract
Convection can occur in a confined saturated porous box when the associated Rayleigh number exceeds a threshold critical value: the identity of the preferred onset convection mode depends sensitively on the geometry of the box. Here we discuss examples for which the box dimensions are such that four modes share a common critical Rayleigh number. Perturbation theory is used to derive a system of coupled ordinary differential equations that governs the nonlinear interaction of the four modes and an analysis of this set is undertaken. In particular, it is demonstrated that as the Rayleigh number is increased beyond critical so a series of pitchfork bifurcations occur and multiple stable states are identified that correspond to the survival of just one of the four modes. The basins of attraction for each mode in the 4D phase space are described by a reduction to a suitable 3D counterpart.