Granular matter is present everywhere in our practical lives. In particular, the movement initiation due to an external excitation, like vibration, is responsible of the detachment of particles that can then be put in an air stream or be part of a pollution process with undesirable consequences. In those scenarios, the knowledge of the mechanisms for the initiation of particle movement is crucial to predict the removal probabilities. This paper focuses on the onset of the movement of particles placed on a horizontal surface subjected to a vertical sinusoidal mechanical vibration. The problem is tracked both experimentally and