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Abstract. The equation of one-dimensional gradually varied flow (GVF) in sustaining and non-sustaining open channels is normalized using the critical depth, y c , and then analytically solved by the direct integration method with the use of the Gaussian hypergeometric function (GHF). The GHFbased solution so obtained from the y c -based dimensionless GVF equation is more useful and versatile than its counterpart from the GVF equation normalized by the normal depth, y n , because the GHF-based solutions of the y c -based dimensionless GVF equation for the mild (M) and adverse (A) profiles can asymptotically reduce to the y c -based dimensionless horizontal (H) profiles as y c /y n → 0. An in-depth analysis of the y c -based dimensionless profiles expressed in terms of the GHF for GVF in sustaining and adverse wide channels has been conducted to discuss the effects of y c /y n and the hydraulic exponent N on the profiles. This paper has laid the foundation to compute at one sweep the y c -based dimensionless GVF profiles in a series of sustaining and adverse channels, which have horizontal slopes sandwiched in between them, by using the GHF-based solutions.