We investigate the onset of average convection and its nonlinear regimes in a single-component fluid layer overlying a fluid-saturated porous layer. A heated from below cavity with a superposed fluid and a porous medium undergoes high-frequency and small-amplitude vertical vibrations in the gravitational field. Porosity of the medium decreases linearly with depth at a positive porosity gradient. Thermal vibrational convection equations are obtained by the averaging method and solved numerically. The shooting method, Galerkin method and finite-difference method are applied. It is shown that for small vibration accelerations, a convective flow is generated as short-wave rolls in the fluid layer overlying a porous medium. The heat flux undergoes abrupt changes as the supercriticality increases. It is due to the fluid flow penetrating into pores. A magnitude of the jump grows with the growth of vibration intensity. For sufficiently large vibration accelerations, the average convection is excited in the form of long wave rolls that penetrate both layers. Here, the Nusselt number is 2-3 times higher than its value in the static gravity field. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.