Characterising the southern part of the Hearne Province: a forgotten part of Canada’s Shield revisited

•Geological characteristics of rocks in the southern Hearne sub-province.•U-Pb zircon age determinations for many of the major building blocks of the region.•Sm-Nd isotopic characteristics for rock types of the region.•Comparison of rocks of the southern and central Hearne sub-provinces.•Rocks of the southern Hearne sub-province are extrapolated using geophysical maps.