The name « Alison Quartzite » was first used by Owens (1952) in a statutory report. This rock unit is well exposed at Alison Lake, which is located ~105 km west of Kuujjuaq (sheet 24L01). Owens (1952) observed the unit at the western edge of the Labrador Trough, usually in contact with Archean granitic gneiss of the Superior Craton. Bérard (1965) mapped the Alison Quartzite along the entire length of his study area between latitudes 58°N and 59°N. In his table of formations, Bérard (1965) gave the Alison Quartzite the rank of a formation. He found that the unit lies at the base of the Proterozoic sequence, with the exception of three places where the « lower dolomite » occupies the base. The Alison Quartzite is almost entirely overlain by an iron formation, then known as the Fenimore Formation (Owens, 1952; Bérard, 1965). Although the same quartzite occurs north of latitude 59°N, it has not been referred to as the Alison Quartzite. South of latitude 58°N, the unit was named the Wishart Formation by Clark (1979), following the nomenclature adopted in more southerly areas. The name Alison Formation was abandoned by Clark and Wares (2004) as it is equivalent to the Wishart Formation.

Bérard (1965) concluded that the Alison Quartzite is the stratigraphic equivalent of the Wishart Formation. This conclusion is supported by the fact that the Alison Quartzite, and the overlying Fenimore Formation, show similar stratigraphic relationships to those exhibited by the Wishart Formation and the Sokoman Formation in the southern Labrador Trough. Clark and Wares (2004) were also of the opinion that the Alison Quartzite and the Fenimore Formation are stratigraphic equivalents of the Wishart and Sokoman formations, respectively. Because of this equivalence and the fact that the Wishart name was used first (see Frarey and Duffell, 1964), the name Alison Formation was abandoned as recommended by Clark and Wares (2004).

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